Jupiter Opposing
by amandamayclair
Summary: Jupiter Jones was willing to sacrifice everything, her own life, the lives of her family, in order to save Earth from its horrific destiny. Now, that fate, and its billions of extremely valuable assets, is balanced in her inexperienced hands. Her choices will determine the future for her allies, and her newly acquired enemies.
1. Chapter 1

**Author Notes**

I have tried to keep 'Jupiter Opposing' in line with the spirit of the original movie, for all of us who wanted more! I hope you enjoy it. All feedback is welcome! I made some updates on the last few chapters. I wasn't happy with their flow.

**Notes Updated 9/29/2018**

 **Jupiter Opposing**

Jupiter Jones sits atop the Sears tower, overlooking the lights of Chicago. Her gaze passes beyond the city to the hazing curve of the horizon, as if to take in the entire scope of the world. Her long dark hair flows around her shoulders in the high breeze. She waits.

' _Technically speaking, I'm Queen of the Earth, not that this distinction comes with any_ perks, _because no one can know the truth, least of all my own family. If all that isn't bizarre enough, I inherited the planet from myself, my genetic children are tens of thousands of years older than myself, and the man I love thinks of himself as a dog. Lately, that's become a typical day. My aunt remains convinced that I have a great destiny, and now that I met the love of my life and traveled the stars, maybe that isn't so much bullshit after all. But I am not my father, and I do not see the good in everyone. Instead, I begin to equate the word destiny with a rising sense of paranoia. I imagine every face hides a Keeper. I wonder if the shimmer of stars is really camouflaged ships. After long days engrossed in the family business of cleaning magnificent homes, I study the codes given to me during my ascension to an Entitled, Her Majesty, Owner of Earth, and I find myself adrift in a sea of jibberish._ '

Caine glides from the evening sky and alights beside her. Jupiter stands and folds herself into his embrace, cradled within his strong arms and powerful, prosthetic wings, but her face remains troubled. Caine senses her worry and steps back, searching her eyes.

"Your Majesty?" he asks in a deep, concerned growl. He would fight whatever troubles her to its death, if he could.

"What do I do? Do I order all the Keepers off the planet? And what happens if I do? I mean, there were four at the fertility clinic alone. How many are there, really? And what are they hiding as? Doctors? Lawyers? Politicians? Well, politicians would explain a lot." Her lips curl in a rueful grin.

"I can't answer that." He stares over her shoulder into the fading orange sky, thoughtful. "But we know someone who might. I'll speak to Stinger. He's been posted to this planet for years. "

"You think he'll know where they are all hiding? All the Orous... people... on Earth?"

"I'll find out what I can, Your Majesty." She loves to hear him say those two words, but tonight, she just wishes he would call her by her own name. Jupiter nods. They turn and prepare for their scheduled date of an evening flight together, but this time, she doesn't crow with joy. Instead, her face has the intent look of someone training for battle.

' _The worst thing is, admitting Balem was right. I have no idea what I'm doing._ '


	2. Chapter 2

"Good of you to come, Kalique." Titus Abrasax stands tall, despite the black tracking collar twinkling with blue lights encircling his elegant neck. The collar coordinates exceptionally well with his usual somber attire, black sweater and leather slacks, with a hint of blue gems glittering at the cuffs. The collar intimates his altered status, yet he determines to own that effect.

"Are your accommodations satisfactory?" This day, Kalique wears a gown of Cerise red fading upwards to a shimmering golden bodice, embroidered in crimson leaves above, which pale to counterpoint gold below. She sports a tiara of diamond and ruby twined within her mahogany tresses, and an expression of benevolent sorrow. If she loves anything, beyond the security of her worldly comforts, it is this irascible younger brother.

Titus tilts his head slightly.

"My clipper is confiscated until the penalties are determined, but I am allowed this lightship. It serves." He spares a small motion to the opulent chamber behind him. Mahogany walls curve overhead, wide arches trimmed with gold inlay. As if in defiance of his captivity, the twisted serpent emblem that is his Abrasax crest is engraved in every corner, on each piece of fine furnishing, embroidered on every cushion.

"The Aegis confirmed. Belam did not escape the destruction of the refinery." She pauses, searching, perhaps, for a hint of regret which she knows will not come. Whatever passed between the brothers which gave rise to such animosity she has never learned, and has never cared to investigate. The only true bond between them had ever been their mother, and once she had gone, only the wealth remained.

"And now ensues decades of squabbling over his assets."

"Which, as you are aware, were considerable."

"The Second and Third cousins hope to feast among the scraps?"

"I am certain. Although his admission to murdering mother is only hearsay, the fact will call into doubt his prior inheritance. And there is the new factor to consider."

"Jupiter."

"Yes. Clever of you to try and gain Earth, although I am deeply disappointed that you planned to her murdered, again." She raises her chin and frowns. She had hoped to reawaken in that new image the mother she remembered, proud, ruthless, indomitable, rather than the one who had come to her near her end.

"She may be her genetic match, but she is not our mother. Even Jupiter acknowledges that." Kalique demures with a slight shrug, unwilling to dispel her illusions.

"Perhaps. Either way, her insertion into the equations has thrown more than Balem's will into issue. The Thousand Families will be concerned that her apparent intent not to harvest Earth will set a precedent." Titus raises his eyebrows

"And there are the invaluable assets of that planet which some interested parties might deem ripe for a hostile acquisition."

"I have received whispers. By any chance, would that interested party be you?" Titus smiles his most charming.

"My own assets in disarray, I admit the temptation exists. However, as you can see, my every move is recorded and logged, and I have been prohibited any attempt to contact or obstruct her."

"Yet, you have always proved most resourceful."

"I will accept that as praise." Titus bows, and Kalique vanishes from the communication.


	3. Chapter 3

"Katherine, you look pleased." Jupiter walked into Katherine Dunlevy's bedroom, cleaning bucket draped over her arm, as she had so many times before. She had worked for their family since she had turned sixteen, and the two women were of an age. Once, not so long ago, Jupiter would have envied the expensive cut of the silk blouse and linen trousers draping Katherine's fashionably thin frame.

"Oh, Jupiter! Austin proposed!" Katherine extends her hand and wiggles her fingers so the five-carat diamond twinkles. Jupiter manages a smile, with a hint of sadness recalling the end results of her own recent proposal. And maybe a smidgen of smugness, recalling the size of diamonds on that particular ring. Not that she was impressed by those trinkets anymore. Cain had helped her save something much more important. Her family. Her planet. Her life. In fact, at the moment, she was undergoing a bit of fairy godmother syndrome.

"That's great. Wonderful, even."

"It's all so exciting. I know I should have followed your advice about waiting, but when he got down on one knee and offered me the perfect ring, well, it just jumped out. I said yes!"

"Do you still feel like throwing up?"

"Not every day. It's a fairy tale come true, right? I am determined to enjoy it!"

"If it makes you happy."

"My father is throwing an engagement party. I hope you can come." Jupiter allows herself a little swell of pride and warmth of friendship. She's been closer to Katherine Dunlevy then anyone once she had finished high school and needed to accept the only work available for an unregistered alien. She feels a flush of guilt that she used Katherine's name at the fertility clinic, and so drew a swarm of Keepers which believed she was the genetic match they sought. Then Katherine opened her mouth again. "Wonderful! It was such short notice that we have been having trouble finding enough caterers. You'll help, won't you?" Jupiter's open smile fades into a habitual mask.

"Sure." Her guilt simmers into resentment. She, who owns this entire planet, has this woman's fate in her very hands, still destined to serve as the underpaid, hired help for those too cheap to hire someone legal. She squares her shoulders and allows the anger to fall away. Once she coveted the wonders of the wealth people like Katherine enjoyed. Then, she had traveled where they could never even imagine. She could have everything they had and much, much more.

For a terrible price. Jupe had been avoiding facing those temptations for over a month. The obligations that came with it would not remain so quiescent.

"Would your family be available? The more the merrier!"

"I'll talk to my cousin. He makes those arrangements." Katherine beams, completely oblivious to the chilled as a summer cocktail undertone in Jupiter's voice.


	4. Chapter 4

Caine flies under the cover of darkness to the farmhouse nestled deep in the corn fields. Pardoned Stinger might be, yet his fortunes had yet to show improvement. Caine touches down in the open yard, habitually surveying the surroundings before proceeding through the profusion of flowers, the perpetual hum of bees silenced by the night, and up the time roughened wooden steps. The front of the house has been mostly rebuilt, though the old wooden door still hangs at an awkward angle. He knocks, listening to the answering footsteps. Kiza wrestles the door open.

"Is he home?"

"Dad, Caine's here," she calls back over her shoulder and makes room for him to enter.

"Stinger," Caine says with deference to his superior, mentor, and, hopefully again, his friend. Honor restored, a full member of the Skyjacker once more, Stinger spreads his gleaming bronze wings across the hallway before folding them deftly against his back. He has his choice of stations now, yet has chosen to remain here, on Earth. He owes Jupiter, Her Majesty, for his pardon, and he knows the stakes far more than she. "Her Majesty wanted me to pass this to you. She wants it sold." Caine hands over the small box. Stinger opens it, his eyes widen slightly. Kiza peers over his shoulder, and her eyes widen more.

"A bit gaudy, isn't it?" she notes with a shrug. Inside is the ring of massive diamonds Titus had offered for Jupiter's hand in marriage. Among the stars, the stones meant little. On Earth, they could purchase a new life.

"What about the rest? I think she's been avoiding me."

"She hasn't wanted to think about any of that."

"She won't have a choice."

"That's why she's willing to sell this instead of throwing it in the lake. She may not be ready to face it, but she realizes her family will need the money."

"Sooner than she knows."

"What do you mean?" Stinger opens his mouth to respond, to disclose what he had learned.

A whistling, whirring sound pricks Caine's attention skyward.

"Expecting company?"

"No." Cain and Stinger spring to the stash room, Kiza right behind.

"Run," Stinger commands. Kiza shakes her head in denial.

"No time," Caine growls. He tosses her a rifle. She checks it with practiced efficiency. Stinger spares her a glance mixed with pride and fear. Jupiter was a Queen. Kiza was his Queen. The three sprint back to the living room and form defensive triangle. Both men fold their wings tightly to maximize their fighting space, for now, and flare their shields. Bursts of light dart through the walls and singe the carpet. Caine, smelling their location, aims and fires through the window. A wraith ship spins off into the far barn in a dazzle of sparks. The barn wall flashes into a haze of blue and yellow flames.

Two forms slink in through the front door, quickly spotted by Stinger and he eliminates them in rapid shot. Kiza follows suit the two from the back. A pair of hunters, lycantant, leap through the shattered windows. Each is larger than Caine, bristling with dark fur and baring thick, yellow fangs. Caine crouches and blocks their shots with his shield, then swings in with a leg sweep, leaping in to disable them with a chop to their throats, one with a fist, the other with a hearty clip of his wing. Fast and efficient though they were, none had trained against Stinger and his lightning swift attacks. Behind him, four more of the pack have engaged Stinger and Kiza. Their eyes seemed focused on Kiza, that she was their chosen prey. One feints at Stinger, while the other rolls in low and tries to entangle her legs with a paralyzing cord. Caine wheels forward with a handspring, knocking that one aside. Stinger also realizes the purpose of the attack and moves in with a rapid fire set of punches hands, fists, wings, hands, fists, wings. Then a fifth Keeper slinks in low and pulls Kiza off her feet with a second cord. She falls hard on her stomach, trying to twist and sight her gun at the Keeper. Stinger raises his shield above them, and drops over her to halt the slow tug of her writhing body across the floor, and is hit from behind by a shot from one of the hunters. Blood pools on his side, one of his wings disabled, one of his hands deeply burned. Kiza's face twists in a fierce rage and she fires at the hunter, dropping him, but the Keeper still has her legs disabled.

Four more hunters leap into the room. Seeing one easy target and two fighting, they make a feint for Kiza, and when Caine whirls and ducks to confuse their fire and reach the Keeper, the lycantant change their tactic and grab the wounded Stinger by his arms and neck. Caine knocks the Keeper from his grip and Kiza fires three rapid shots into it. She frees herself from the paralyzing cord, but the hunters have already gained the back rooms. dispatch the remaining hunters and follow the two out to retrieve Stinger. Just out the door, and Caine is raised into the air by a saurian hand. He fires but can't manage to aim as he is flung overhead. Kiza hesitates only a split second, fearful of hitting Stinger, then aims low at the retreating hunters and so wounds two of them on the legs. One goes down, but not before a blue light beam begins pulling them towards the transport.

Caine aims his gun at the sargorn's head, but misses while he dangles in a wild circle.

"Wait," comes a guttural hiss. "I serve Her Majesty!"


	5. Chapter 5

Jupiter holds the wine glasses with trepidation and both hands. She was skilled with vacuum, duster, and toilet brush, not so much with balancing a tray filled with fine stemware and filled with wine that probably cost more than she earned in a week. Katherine wears a pale peach knee length gown and a forced levity. Austin himself is, to put it kindly, dumpy. His light brown hair was already thinning, while his waist proceeded to the opposite. But he gazes on Katherine with something that seemed to be love.

Everything sparkles under the gauzy white tent, the dishes, the tablecloths, the jewelry of the guests, the bright blue sky, everything except Jupiter's mood. She moves closer to her mother, who carries a similar tray with an equal look of discomfort. No one else immediately notices the speck in the sky that grows larger, but she had begun to pay closer attention to those glimpses from the corner of her eye. As it comes closer, she recognizes the brown and bronze wings.

"Caine?" But before he can land, a shot knocks the glasses from Jupiter's hand. Gasping, she leaps, throwing her mother to the ground. She swirls her head, seeking the source of the blaze. Two more shots sizzle far too close, and she pushes and pulls her mother beneath one of the tables while the assembled crowd erupts in a confused murmur that quickly rises to alarmed cries.

More shots blaze towards the table where they crouch, then even more from the skies as Caine soars downward, gun firing in short, barking blasts. But the shots hadn't come from his gun alone. A ship shimmers into visibility, one bearing the symbol of the Aegis. Two Keepers had been downed in the space vacated by the rampaging party. Caine alights near the table next to Jupiter, covering them. Six figures appear, and from her perch beneath the tablecloth, Jupiter recognizes more Aegis warriors. The remaining attackers either flee unseen or are gunned down.

"Are you all right?" Caine asks, leaning over and offering Jupiter his hand.

"Yes, but, look out!" She grasps his gun and aims behind him at the large, winged figure of a sargorn warrior.

"It's Ok, it's on our side." Caine angles the gun aside. Before Jupiter can riddle out how a sargorn could be on their side, Captain Diomika Tsing strides towards them. She too trains her weapon at the sargorn. "She says she's yours now."

"Mine?" Jupiter asks as she gains her feet.

"Part of the Earth project, and with you owning Earth, and Balem dead, some of the guardians decided they must belong to you."

"Until such time as these things are determined by the courts," hisses the sargorn in its guttural tongue, "we are beholden unto our Lord."

"I see," Jupiter replies with a soft voice that implied she didn't see at all. The Aegis forces lower their weapons, but do not holster them, not yet. Jupiter turns to Captain Tsing. "How did you know?"

"Your Majesty, we've been watching ever since you took possession of the planet. You never filed for your legion guard. After everything that happened, we asked to be stationed here. We feared something like this might happen."

Jupiter doesn't ask what that thing they feared might be. There were too many options from which to choose. And she knew that first month had been too simple. She notices the assembled party clinging to each other, too afraid to move.

"I haven't had much practice at making my own decisions." Jupiter faces her mother, taking a deep, resolute breath. "So many things have happened that were never my choice. I think you can understand that, mother."

"I don't understand any of this." Her mother chances a glance at the Aegis troops with their inlaid tech, at the perfectly smooth visage of Gemma and her blatant mechanicals, and the multitude of faces that were obviously more than human. "Your Majesty? Earth is yours?"

"We need to get you off this planet, Your Majesty," Captain Diomika Tsing says with more force. Her troops form a circle, searching the skies and the guests for more danger. "We can't protect you here, not like this."

"She's right, Your Majesty." Caine stands at her shoulder, protective, his eyes scanning the scene.

"I don't have time to explain everything," Jupiter turns back to her mother with growing anxiety. "But you have a choice to make. Do you want to remember this, all of it, or do you want to forget?"

"I want to forget this ever happened!" Katherine pipes in, recovering something of her voice. She gazes in horror more at the destruction of the festive tents and the upturned tables than in disbelief at the Orousians all around. Even the dragon like sargorn seems too much for her to admit she sees.

Jupiter spares Katherine a glance. She had once wondered how people would react if they knew they were not alone in the universe. Then she had found just how safely ignorant Earth was of its true place among the stars. Katherine's thin, terrified plea made Jupiter's first difficult decision almost easy. But not for her family. Not her mother. She nods at Captain Tsing, who begins expertly gathering the engagement party guests and flashes of bright blue light dance on their faces. Their eyes glazed over, and they stand like enchanted statues. Jupiter motions to the entranced people.

"Mom, they can blank you. Take away the memory that all this ever happened. But only if you want." Her mother's eyes are frightened, seeking some anchor in Jupiter's own. "I, I would like you to know. I would like you to understand. But I won't make that choice for you."

"Forget? Would I forget everything? Would I forget you?"

"No, just the past fifteen minutes or so. Just this. Just them." Something clicked in her mother's mind.

"This is what happened, isn't it. When you didn't come home."

"Yes. And it made me appreciate everything I really had. I love you, Mom. I love working with you and Nino. But I have to go with them. If I don't, whoever that is will coming looking for me again. They might hurt you to hurt me, if I stay."

"Or if you don't," Caine interjected. Jupiter offers him a slight scowl for the interruption. "Someone kidnapped Stinger. I think they meant to take Kiza, to use as leverage against him, probably to use him against you."

"You, you're the boyfriend." It wasn't quite a statement as Aleksa Jones' eyes travel up to his pointed ears, then down to tips of his folded wings.

"They took Stinger? What about Kiza?"

"I promised we would try to find him."

"That could be very difficult." Captain Tsing speaks with impatience. "Where would we start?"

"I have some ideas." Everyone startles a bit when the sargorn speaks up. Jupiter, however, is focused on her mother's reaction. She wants her to know, to know everything, but that can't happen, not yet.

"Mom, I know you haven't had any time. You have to choose."

"This is part of your life? What you care about? What worries you? Then I choose to remember." The smile comes easily to Jupiter then, and she leans up to kiss her mother's cheek, then spins to Caine with a sudden recollection.

"The money!"

"I didn't get the chance." Caine lowers his eyes, ashamed of his failure. He pulls the box from his pant's side pocket and hands it to her.

"Here," Jupiter presses the box into her mother's hands. "Sell this. You won't have to be broke anymore. You won't have to rely on anyone, or clean for people who don't care about you. Take Nino and go anywhere you want." Her mother opens the box and her eyes widen.

"I can't sell this! They'll think I stole it!"

"Cousin Vassily can help. I know he has connections. He can take a generous fee for himself, but no more than half! And whatever you do, don't let Vladie know you've come into money!" Her mother nods still very dazed.

"I'm ready." Jupiter squares her shoulders as she turns to Captain Tsing.

"We have one stop to make," Caine says while the assemblage walks to the waiting blue light of the gravity field. Jupiter's eyes linger on her mother as they rise, and she mouths 'I love you' one last time.


	6. Chapter 6

Kalique stands before the statue of her mother, resplendent in a gown of shimmering golden leaves, hair pulled in a simple coil wrapped with gold chain cascading down her back, the image at one with the hundreds of flickering flames. She appears thoughtful, gazing at the carven figure. A soft sound catches her attention. Malidictes seeks an audience, knowing full well no others are allowed within this temple. She lets him wait while she lights yet another candle, then turns and walks with measured steps from the glittering hall.

"What did you hear," she commands and motions him to join her. Her retinue remains behind, for this conversation is not for their ears. Malidictes falls in step beside her, copper and bronze raiment glinting beneath the torches as they pass.

"There was an attack, on Earth." Kalique's eyes narrow at the news.

"Her Majesty?"

"Accounts indicate she survived, unscathed, but is no longer on the planet." Kalique nods sagely. "She is aboard an Aegis cruiser."

"Was my brother involved?" She hesitates at the words. Once, she had two.

"Not that I can ascertain. The hunters were mercenaries. The trail leads to one of the Thousand Families."

"So it could be their ambitions? What of the other heirs?" Her eyes flicker towards the waiting retinue, the distant cousins, the twinned sims, the exotic splices. One could never be sure if loyalties had been bought. She had taken all the relevant precautions, the monitoring, the tests overt and covert, the promises of eternal time, or the ever present threat of death, but a determined rival could always uncover a hidden weakness.

"Possible. The trail could be laid merely to divert us from looking in the true direction." Kalique halts and raises her chin. Her eyes harden with resolve.

"As the First Primary Heir, I am calling a gathering of the House of Abrasax."

"Are you sure that's wise, My Lady? I agree, as a ruse, it might flush out a possible culprit, but might also alert them, send them into hiding."

"Either result would tell me what I want to know. At the least, Belam's legacy must be examined. Make the arrangements, Malidictes."

"Yes, My Lady." He looks down and taps on his sheave.

"And," she raises a hand, pausing his labor, "assign one of my guard ships to keep watch over Her Majesty. Assurance, should the Aegis fail. I desire her safety."


	7. Chapter 7

Titus reclines upon a plush double headed couch, attempting to look engaged and bored all at once. He touches the communications button embedded on the side of his neck.

"Famulus," he says with all the ennui he can muster. After a few moments, the door slides open and Famulus stands waiting. She has changed little since the diminishing of Titus' circumstance. She might share in his disgrace, yet she wore no black collar on her own slim neck. She respects his fallen status only in the subdued nature of her own attire, deep red tunic belted in brown over fawn colored breeches and tidy ebony boots.

"My Lord," she says with a slight bow.

"I believe I should be preparing for my defense."

"If you insist. Will your lawyers not be sufficient?"

"Lawyers. You can't trust anyone these days." The cold fact of his frozen assets flickers across his face. "I'm not without means of my own. I intend to use them. You did bring the trunk of my mother's old sheave work?"

"Of course, My Lord."

"Surely she had some valuable wisdom tucked away in that brilliant head of hers. Besides, reading them all should fill at least few of the next long centuries of litigation. And, Famulus," he says with a slightly raised hand, "after that, I would dearly love some camel for dinner." She pauses before answering.

"I don't believe we currently have camel aboard, sire." Titus raises his eyebrows in mock dismay, and sits up.

"No camel? But that's my favorite. Camel, just like Mother used to make." Famulus cants her head, listening for the words he dare not say aloud.

"I can have some ordered." His frown is more like a pout, and he rises so that he may turn away with a flourish.

"That will take far too long."

"My Lord, I cannot take the slipper ship without your express permission." They choose words carefully, a dance between their meaning and their understanding. They have been together, master and Chief Servitant, very long.

"Famulus, be a dear, you have my permission." He offers her an exaggerated bow, and a half sided grin.

"As you wish, My Lord." She withdraws, and the door slides closed. Titus' smile fades, and he begins a slow walk about the chamber that could only be described as pacing.


	8. Chapter 8

"She's injured." Caine rushes with Kiza's unmoving form from the gravity beam portal. Her long blond braid swings beneath his arm. Phylo calls for a gurney and hurries to Caine's side to assist. Jupiter flattens herself along the wall, helpless to do more than watch. She's barely visited Kiza twice since her return to Earth, but felt a companionship with the only other woman with whom she could share her secret. The air carries a tang of iron as the men pass.

"Oh, God," she whispers. Blood soaks the summery shirt. Kiza looks pale, her eyes half lidded with no hint of consciousness. The floating gurney arrives with two attendants who assist while Caine lays out Kiza's body, tenderly stretching her arms and legs. Phylo fits a face mask over her parted lips, while another crew administers a blue glowing salve to the wound at her shoulder. Jupiter peers between the bodies attending to Kiza, and already the burned and torn edges of the injury begin to pinken, the blood flow slowing.

"Primary damage, small laser burn to left lung upper quadrant." The gurney recites the litany of Kiza's vital signs. "Bone scan, normal." The sound becomes a hum beneath Caine's growl, his face riddled with guilt.

"Why didn't she say anything? She just let me fly away!" Kiza's head lolls and her voice is muffled. Phylo lifts the mask, satisfied the medicine has done its work on any potential internal damage.

"I'm as tough as my father," she says, a bit dazed. "See? I'm fine." Caine scowls, but steadies her when she props herself on her elbow, struggling to sit upright. Jupiter's eyes widen and her mouth drops in a small oh of surprise. Kiza blinks while she takes in the ship. "Where are we"

"An Aegis cruiser." Caine nods to the Captain. "Captain Tsing, Kiza Apini."

"Welcome aboard. Introductions will have to wait. Now," she turned to the crew, "be alert. We need to clear this space." Phylo and the crew resume stations. One crisis at a time.

Flooded with a joyous relief, Jupiter reaches over to embrace the revived Kiza, but the other woman bows her head.

"Your Majesty." Jupiter's smile fades with a hint of sadness. The request, almost a plea, of "Please, call me Jupe," dies on her lips. Caine had once said that she didn't understand what it meant that he was a splice. Kiza was part bee. Jupiter was a Royal Queen. She had to invite the hope that any friendship could overcome that rigid genetic instinct.

"I'm so sorry about Stinger," she says instead.

"I'll get him back." Kiza swings her legs off the gurney and gives Caine an entreating look. "You will help me?"

"Of course." Jupiter coughs lightly. "We both will." Jupiter leaves them and steps closer to Captain Tsing where she commands from her primary dais. She lowers her voice to spare Kiza any disappointment.

"Have you heard anything, a ransom note, or something?"

"Perhaps," Captain Tsing replies, matching the hushed tone. "Gemma recorded an incoming communication for Your Majesty while we were affecting your rescue. Would you like to receive this in your private quarters?" Jupiter's arms rock against her sides with indecision. Besides hoping for the insight of native Orousians, a fretful, frightened voice inside of her wishes this burden was not hers alone. She looks over her shoulder, assessing Kiza's possible reaction, should the news prove bad.

"What is it?" Caine notices her inquisitive gaze. Jupiter hesitates.

"I have a message."

"From who?"

"There was no authorized identification code," Gemma replies.

"I want to hear," Kiza exclaims, leaning dangerously forward. Jupiter raises her hands in assent and turns back to Captain Tsing.

"Here is fine." Captain Tsing nods to Gemma. She brings up the communication. A chill jolts through Jupiter at the sound of Famulus' voice.

"I bear a message for Her Majesty, Jupiter Jones Abrasax, authentic and verified recurrence of Her Majesty, Seraphi Abrasax. I have information she may find most useful. Please join me at your earliest convenience. It may be a matter of life and death. I have embedded the coordinates."

"Wait," Jupiter yells at the voice. "What have you done with Stinger?"

"It was merely a recording," Gemma reminds her. Jupiter puts a hand to her chest, terror and anger beating against her ribs. Sickened, she folds a hand over her mouth. Then Caine is beside her, his voice vibrant and strong in her ear.

"You don't have to go." He lays a hand on her shoulder, warm and sure. "Let me go."

"And me," Kiza slides from the gurney and steps forward with grim determination, despite the weakness wracking her limbs.

"You shouldn't, Your Majesty," Captain Tsing interjects. "Titus is forbidden to contact you. Using a servitant is a loophole to skirt this regulation, one that I can rectify shortly." Jupiter returns Caine's touch, laying a hand on his arm, drawing strength from his assurance. She lifts her head, breathing deeply of the ship's air.

"If Titus has Stinger, I need to know. Besides," she continues, her features hard as stone, "this is personal."

"This could well be a trap. Sargon," Captain Tsing demands. The winged beast's bulk excludes even light from the corner where she attempts to make herself look small and unnoticed. "You indicated you have knowledge of Stinger Apini's capture."

"I have leads. Leads which must be followed." Jupiter grimaces at the voice like oily gravel poured over stone.

"Do they include Titus Abrasax?"

"I was not given that direct information, My Lady." If a sargorn feels regret, this one might have sounded sorrowful. Captain Tsing shook her head.

"I have my own orders, Your Majesty. Your personal presence is requested on Orous. Aegis Command has many questions to which they require answers. My own, highly detailed reports can only satisfy those bureaucrats so far. And-"

"Captain," Gemma interjected. "I'm receiving another communication, for Her Majesty." Captain Tsing's mouth snaps shut with some consternation. All eyes in the room fall to Jupiter, and she swallows hard.

"Ok," Jupiter says slowly. "Sure, here is fine." Captain Tsing nods sharply.

Kalique's image flickers before the large view screen, poised and gowned in full regalia of ebony with a lengthy lace train shot with silver, shimmering with her slightest move, hair piled high and ringed with diamond circlets, emerges as if she were in the very room. In her left hand she holds a dark wooden staff crowned with an iridescent crystal dragonfly. In her right balances a large polished onyx orb, encased within a silvery design like a sharply winged chevron. Her voice, more resonant that Jupiter recalled, fills the space of the deck.

"I, Kalique, First Primary of the House of Abrasax, require a conclave of the House Abrasax. All Secondary, Tertiary, and Quaternary heirs will attend. This precedes any prior engagement. Please note the time and channel." The image fades.

"That was short," Kiza slips a stray strand of hair behind her ear.

"Entitled have no need for subtlety," Phylo replies. At the sharp glance from Captain Tsing, he bows slightly in deference to Jupiter, recompense if he had offered her offense. She hardly noticed.

"What does this mean?" Caine asks, moving protectively behind Jupiter, who has turned a bit pale.

"I think it means I have a lot of decisions to make."

"If I may, Your Majesty" Captain Tsing offered, "my primary concern is that Aegis Command requires your full statements regarding both Balem's and Titus' transgressions."

"My father needs me, Your Majesty. I'll beg for your help." Jupiter's head swings from Captain Tsing to Kiza, as if the world itself was starting to spin. She raises her hands to her face, the gleaming blue signet upon her wrist catching her eye. She had chosen this, because other people had wanted it for her. Correction, had wanted her, for it. One that burned within her an unwelcome vengeance. One that tore at her heart. And one that overwhelmed her beyond coherent words.

"You are an Abrasax, Your Majesty. And Jones. And a Bolotnikov." She turns at Caine's gentle tone, fear distorting her face, then looks to Kiza, and back to Captain Tsing. Squaring her shoulders, she takes a steadying breath.

"When is Kalique's meeting?"

"Three days precisely." Jupiter nods, twice, with growing conviction.

"Does that leave time to visit the Famulus' coordinates?"

"Gemma?" Captain Tsing asks reluctantly. Obviously, she is uncomfortable with that option.

"We can arrive at that destination within four hours and twelve minutes."

"Sargorn," Jupiter turns to the winged warrior.

"Yes, Your Majesty."

"Your leads on Stinger. How long will they take to hunt down?"

"Many days. I must convince my sources that their best interests lie in revealing what they know." Jupiter absorbs that response with an awkward grimace.

"Can you trust him?" Phylo stares at the dragon looking beast.

"Her," the sargorn growled. Phylo ignores the correction.

"There are reasons they are not bought by the Aegis." His eyes roll over the sargorn as if to intimate 'many reason.' The sargon returned his sweeping assessment with an implacable gaze. Jupiter's only experience with the reptilian warriors was within Balem's refinery. The beasts had threatened to kill her mother, until Caine had fought them, and managed to destroy them all. She hadn't realized there must be more. She wondered what else she hadn't considered about the inhabitants of that massive structure, shrouded by a crimson hurricane.

"Is there anyone else we could hire for the search?" Captain Tsing flips through a list on her console.

"There are a few hunters I would trust. And you are correct in assuming the Aegis reports is likely to consume more than just a few days."

"Fine. I'll deal with Famulus' information first." Captain Tsing nods her grudging assent. "In the meantime, Sargron, please begin your...investigation. Captain Tsing can provide you her list of resources."

"As you wish, Your Majesty."

"Very well. If that's settled, there is something that I really need to do."

"What's that, Your Majesty?" Caine asks beside her ear.

"Change clothes." She motions to the stained white caterer's blouse and the dust covered black skirt. "After that," she looks up at Caine with equal measures of hope, love, and trepidation, "someone needs to start showing me how to defend myself."


	9. Chapter 9

Jupiter nestles beside Caine, seated upon her small bed. She notices the clear view to the corridor, and wonders if Caine always leaves the door open for propriety, or because he still feels he has no right to be alone with a royal.

"Your Majesty, you're using this to avoid facing the fate of Earth."

"No. No I'm not. Ok, yes I am. But these problems are still part of that problem. I'll just figure them out one at a time."

"Ok." He places his chin over her head, breathing in the scent of her hair. "I can't say I understand the adjustment you are trying to make. I'll do my best to help however you need."

"Thank you," she says, lifting her hand to stroke his own. "Now, show me how to defend myself." She hops up. Caine turns his head slightly away, thoughtful, before he nods and stands before her.

"Everything starts with a proper stance. Plant your feet like this, apart, with your knees slightly bent, ready to move." She stands as directed, then watches his face.

"Don't stare like that. The eyes are useful, but you need to see what the muscles, the shifts of weight, those tell you what an enemy is about to do. You have to watch everything, softly."

"Like this?" He shakes his head and rearranges her again.

"OK. Let's try something different. If I come at you like this," and he extends his arm as if a strike to her chin, "you need to be able to shift like this," and he pushes her shoulder, but instead of a graceful dodge, she staggers sideways. She gamely takes the stance again, but her face is so twisted in concentration that Caine has difficulty suppressing a grin. "Um, Ok, you try to hit me instead." Jupiter lifts her leg to kick him sideways, like she had seen in movies, and swings.

"I can't do that!" she cries as he demonstrates a handspring out of reach.

"What's the fuss?" Kiza's head pops in the door. "I could hear you two corridors away." She addresses Caine, then belatedly amends with "Your Majesty."

"Nothing," Jupiter says, embarrassed. She had fought back against Balem. That had been life, amidst death and destruction. Absent that cold fury of immediate survival, she just felt silly.

"She doesn't understand what I am trying to show her."

"He doesn't understand why I don't understand!"

"That's because he's male. Here. Watch."

"You know self-defense?"

"And more, Your Majesty. My father is an Aegis marshal." Caine shakes his head in vehement denial.

"You were just badly injured. I won't let you do this."

"I'm fine. Afraid you can't keep up? I'll go slow."

She takes a stance against Caine. He backs away, still shaking his head. Kiza ignores his reticence and spins towards him with a high kick. Instinctively, Caine dodges, then reaches towards her with grasping hands, and Kiza slips beneath leaving him clutching air. She slides behind him and delivers a chop to the back of his neck. He whirls with a leg sweep which she leaps above, then kicks the leg forward, slipping Caine onto his side from his own momentum. He rolls sideways but tries a second sweep while she is still touching down from her previous move. He makes contact, and she has to somersault to take the force and land right again. She laughs, and Caine smiles in response to the challenge. He keeps his wings tucked tightly against his back for this is an amicable sparring. Jupiter has seen him in true fights, and recognizes this is very different. She watches them dance, entranced, yet a hint of envy creeps into her heart. They've played this game many times before.

"You see, Your Majesty, he is much larger and stronger, but I can use that against him."

"It doesn't help that you are just as fast as Stinger," Caine muses with a rueful grin, rubbing his side from his latest bounce off the wall. She shrugs.

"I said I would go slow."

"What's this?" Phylo bursts into the room, gun drawn. Two more Aegis soldiers file in right behind him. "We heard a disturbance!"

"Sorry, sorry." Jupiter steps in front of them. "They were just showing me some techniques." Phylo gives his head rebuffing shake, and holsters his weapon.

"Maybe you should use the practice rooms designated for that instead, Your Majesty." Jupiter looks thoughtfully at his weapon.

"Maybe I should start with something simple, like a gun."

"The armory has plenty of those," Phylo offers with a decisive nod at Caine. "You pick one out for Her Majesty's first go."

"I can take you to the practice range." Jupiter follows Kiza into the corridor. Kiza glances at the wall where a listing of directions flashes, then heads off, motioning Jupiter along. She's comfortable, at home in the big dark ship with its portals and its sliding doors and its panels of light. Jupiter feels a second stab of envy, and a pit of loneliness hollows her stomach. Here, she is even more the alien than ever she believed herself to be on Earth.

"How long have you known Caine?" she hears her mouth asking before she can tame it. "Never mind, it's none of my business, I'm sorry." Kiza smiles back at her.

"Since I was little. I don't know exactly what age you would call it. The splicer sold me to a broker, who sold me to a jewel thief who thought the fast hands of an apini could be useful."

"A jewel thief? Criminals can buy splices?"

"If they have the means, of course. In the end, he became too brash, his heists too flashy. Stinger was one of the Aegis legionnaires that apprehended him. I was scheduled to be terminated but Dad couldn't bear that, I was still just a kid. But a splice can't own another splice, so somehow he managed to adopt me. But I guess he's always been like that, worrying about the outcasts, like taking Caine under his wing. Caine's been like my big brother ever since." Jupiter swallows the lump of jealousy, but it only goes part of the way down.

"How could he sell Caine out to Titus then?"

"I asked him that," Kiza pauses before the door that must lead to the shooting range. "I'm not sure he knows. Maybe because he resented taking the fall for Caine over such a stupid mistake. I was quite happy living in the middle of nowhere, with no one to bother us. But Dad, he couldn't stop telling me all his stories about the Aegis and being a skyjacker. He missed it." She signaled the door to open before Jupiter might ask her logical question, 'he missed the life, even if they owned him, bought and paid for?'

Within the small vestibule of the shooting range, Caine waits. When Jupiter enters, he gently places a gun in her palm.

"I suppose this is a start," she nods with a slight frown at its minute size.

After a long lesson with Kiza and Caine instructing her on the assembly, disassembly, and care of a gun, Jupiter groans over the complexity that turned out to be anything but simple. She slaps the gun on the table in frustration, and jumps when it spits a bit of fire.

"Careful," Caine takes the gun from her with great caution, "Your Majesty."

"This is harder than I thought." Jupiter bites her lip at the whine in her own voice.

"Every legionnaire has to start with proper care of the weapon," Caine explains with forced patience. "A poorly kept weapon will not find the enemy's heart if it doesn't fire true."

"I, I don't want to know how to kill someone. Just keep from getting killed." Kiza's expression hardens, and Jupiter knows she worries for Stinger.

"Sometimes those amount to the same thing." Jupiter swallows the taste of bile at the back of her throat, her mind dredging up images of all the billions butchered so other people might live extended lives. People like Balem. Like Titus and Kalique. And like her genetic twin, lost across time.


	10. Chapter 10

"My lord requests that you come alone." Famulus' image inclines her head toward Jupiter.

"Never," Caine growls beside Jupiter but just beyond the range of the communication screen.

"You know that isn't going to happen."

"Well, it was worth a try." She spins a dial, and the image fades. Gemma's voice purrs behind them.

"Slipper ship Abrasax T17, please begin docking procedures. Port 12 is signaling for your arrival."

"We'll be listening," Captain Tsing reassures Jupiter, as well as a warning. "Get out of there at any sign of treachery." Jupiter and Caine nod.

"We'll go first, Your Majesty." Jupiter doesn't argue and falls in behind Caine and Kiza. The lock is easily large enough for all three and the four Aegis crew accompaniment.

"Maybe we should have brought the sargorn, too," Jupiter quips out of her case of nerves. She shrugs at the blanks looks she receives. If the reptilian was an agent of Titus, it was in everyone's best interest it had been sent on chasing leads. Besides, they might learn all they needed in the next few minutes. They float up into the receiving lock, and stand ready.

All her uncertainty flees when the lock opens, and the familiar colors and patterns favored by Titus hit her vision. The very air reeks of the perfumes he favored. All the shame and humiliation she had suffered at his hands, buried and set aside during the more pressing matter of her family's abduction by Belam, flood into her veins. Forgetting Caine's instruction, she strides up to Famulus, hatred pours from her eyes, her fists clenched and fighting the urge to strike.

"Where's Stinger?" Famulus cocks her head, her long ears shifting with puzzlement.

"Mr. Apini? I shouldn't know, Your Majesty." Her arrogant tone belies her deferent words.

"Of course you do," Kiza steps forward, her fingers twitching over her own gun. "You said this was a life or death matter!" Famulus returns her heated gaze with crystal cool eyes. She has little to fear with a dozen royal guards' implacable faces and their raised gun arms in an arc behind her. Yet, she has never seen Caine and Kiza dance, Jupiter thought with a wry thinning of her lips.

"I really don't know anything about a kidnapping." Famulus shoulders rise in a delicate shrug. "I only know Mr. Apini from our," her mouth twists in a rueful grin, "brief dealings upon Her Majesty's ascension."

"Then why are you here?" Jupiter growls, planting her hands on her hips, her face grim.

"I am here at my lord's behest, of course." She motions to a large chest floating just behind her. Kiza blanches.

"What's in there?" Jupiter's voice grows tight with fear. The chest is just big enough, for one.

"I can only assume," Famulus replies, reaching down to touch the rim of the chest. She tapped the lid with a little ping. "The memoirs of Seraphi Abrasax, the late Empress of the House of Abrasax."

"Sheaves?" Caine says incredulous,

"Not all of them, of course. That would fill a hundred such containers. He chose these specifically, Your Majesty."

"Why would he give me these?" Jupiter lowers her arms as if to steady herself, unbalanced by the solid grounds for her righteous fury having shifted beneath her feet.

"I couldn't say. I wouldn't presume to speak for my Lord's intentions. I only know he meant these to be handed directly to you."

"Seraphi's diaries?" Jupiter sidesteps Famulus and lays a single finger upon the lid. It clicks open like a roll-top desk. Caine surges forward and rifles through the tumble of dark tiles, to be sure that's all to be found within. Jupiter gazes at the dozens and dozens of sheaves. Dazed, she reaches forward, selecting any random tablet. The surface is cool and smooth in her palm. Colors whir and the tablet sings to life.

"They will answer to your gene print alone, Your Majesty." A tiny image, of herself, wavers above the tablet.

"If he thinks this will buy my forgiveness, he's gravely mistaken." Even so, Jupiter stares hungrily at the pile of sheaves. Knowledge. Information. The chance to understand everything that had brought her to this place.

"My Lord Titus said nothing regarding forgiveness."

"You really have no information about Stinger's kidnappers?" Famulus turns her head slightly at Caine's question. Jupiter replaces the sheave as carefully as if it were priceless crystal.

"As one splice to another," and she speaks to Kiza's evident distress as well as Caine's distrust, and Jupiter wonders if those words bear more weight than just a facade of condolences, "I have none. And, to my knowledge, neither does my Lord." Though not exactly sincere, Famulus did not present her usual scorn.

"Let's get out of here," Caine growls, passing a scathing scan over the assembled royal guard. He grasps one handle of the chest and pulls, but it doesn't budge. Famulus raises her brows, and turns her eyes to Jupiter. Jupiter reaches for it slowly, and it shifts beneath her slightest her touch.

"This isn't over," Caine growls. He and Titus have their own unsettled score.

"Nothing ever is, not in lives as long as theirs. Now, I really must find some camel prior to my return to My Lord." The Aegis guards pass a puzzled look between them. Jupiter merely shakes her head and steps towards the lock, the chest following like an obedient hound. She does not look back as the door hisses to a close.


	11. Chapter 11

"Thank you for the alert, Pevir."

"Of course, Your Majesty." Stinger's eyes flutter open. He surveys the room from where he floats within a blue gravity beam, the plush, glistening wall hangings, the warm flickering light of an open flame giving life to the muted gray walls. Two featureless sim physicians run their sensory fingers across his ribs, his spine, his spleen. Fabric rustles beyond his head, still the speaker has not moved within his sight. He attempts to swivel his head, but finds himself immobilized within the beam.

"You were quite damaged during the extraction. But I'm very pleased you survived." The voice is female, calm yet commanding.

"Why all the finery? For a splice?" He manages to coax his voice into a thick coating of disdain.

"We wouldn't want your... daughter... to think we had mistreated you."

From his right, an intricate neck piece of scrollwork lifts into view. Woven among the strands is an emblem, a stylized silver wolf's head, fangs bared, on an ebony shield limned in more iridescent silver.

"I recognize that symbol." The jeweled piece snakes around his neck, sealing with a final snap, and blue lights flicker like living gems.

"Of course you do." Stinger's body rotates in the gravity field until he is upright, then lowers him to the stone floor. Released, he slides his fingers across the chill metal. Thin, much finer, but no less dangerous than the more utilitarian monitoring collars of the Aegis.

"Bow before your Empress, splice!" hisses the slit eyed, gleaming skinned servitant. A sudden urge to drop to one knee rises within Stinger, which he fights with a grim scowl. His wings flicker in response to his determination, but his head lowers for a moment against his will.

"I am now your Queen. Your instincts can do none other than to obey me."

"I recognize the symbol, not the person." Stinger's voice is low, hard as steel.

"You stand before Morkenin, Empress of the House of Heelsinth," responded the servitant with a slight lisp between his pointed teeth," when you should kneel!" Stinger forces his eyes upward, taking in the image of his captor. The woman is tall, lean with muscle, dark as midnight but with thick coils of silvery hair cascading down her back. Her eyes are a shocking blue against her deep skin, cold and ancient. She is draped in a sweeping tunic of an aqua so pale it is nearly white, and a thick fur of some snow beast's skin wraps around her shoulders her like a cape.

Stinger may have redeemed himself in the eyes of Caine, but he had never redeemed himself in his own. Had he known Titus would try to murder Jupiter, he could never have betrayed her, too. His own devotion was to Kiza, and that instinct had overridden any thought of his honor, or his loyalty to Jupiter, royal though she was. Now, he is determined to fight this, fight his own genetic code with every shred of humanity in his cells.

"What do you expect me to do?" He drops his eyes as if accepting his servitude. He must lower their guard. Now was not the right time to demonstrate the heights of his resistance.

"Live." He glances into her icy gaze, wary and unbalanced by such a simple response. "I expect you to continue, to thrive amongst all the finery my royal status can provide. Now and again I may," and his collar blazes with pain, stinging his nerves with a million tiny needles that lance through his body, and he drops to his knees, eyes wide with shock and surprise, "just for effect, mind you. Just so your... daughter... knows I am quite serious."

Stinger gasps, clutching at the elegant collar. The pain lessens, leaving him still choking for air.

"Rise, Mr. Apini." She is his Queen. His legs betray him and he rises. For a moment, he glances out across the balcony, contemplating, his wings spreading with hope, then he swallows hard at the vast stretch of crystalline white beyond. The Empress follows his gaze with a slight smile.

"Just prior to the harvest, the tersies who inhabited this planet threw the climate into such imbalance that an ice age ensued, which has lasted 300,000 years. I suppose I could have rectified the situation, but I find the season quite useful. A splice such as yourself would discover leaving the environs of my enclave distinctly.. uncomfortable."


	12. Chapter 12

_'It is done. My heart is heavy, but my conscience clear._ '

Jupiter watches her own face recite the lines she had never spoken. The image looks so like her, except for a cold stillness she recalled settled on the face of Balem Abrasax. The voice is crisp, commanding, confident in the scope of power the woman ruled. She stands in a miniature set, a low table resting before a plush chaise. Jupiter reclines, propped against the wall of her bed, stars glowing like ghosts beyond the window, sheaves piled around her like chocolates to be taste tested.

The door hisses open, and Caine surveys the scene of historical carnage.

"This is too creepy," she says, trying to redirect his assessment of her quarter's current disarray. He tiptoes between the sheaves to sit near her on the bed. She notices he leaves the door habitually open. She wonders if this was due to a sense of propriety, some custom between a splice and a royal, or if somehow he still doesn't feel worthy of being alone in her presence. "I wonder why he left these to me. What does he hope to gain?"

"I don't know, Your Majesty. Maybe just to keep you preoccupied. Maybe to sway you to the side of the Abrasax."

"He won't seduce me to the dark side." Caine gives her a quizzical look. "Never mind. It's strange, isn't, being back here." Her thin words encompass a world of time where their vastly differing stations among the Orousians had meant nothing, where obligations had yet to come crashing through the door, where they had scarcely begun to kindle the flames that drew them to the fire. Then she recalls that, for him, this _is_ home. She is the stranger. "That was a stupid thing to say."

"I spent five years in the Deadlands." Caine looks away, tense, and a muscle in his jaw twitches. Jupiter restrains the urge to reach out and comfort him. He had never broached his time in the Deadlands in all their brief time together. "Earth is my home, now." He clears his throat softly. "Are you learning anything you can use?" Jupiter opens her mouth as if to ask more, then decides to allow let the topic slide away. When he was ready, she would listen. She lifts the sheave in her hand with a resigned puzzlement.

"I can't figure out a logical order to them. I've listened to a bit of some of them. Most of it is either boring daily stuff, or downright depressing."

"Maybe Gemma could help arrange them by date." Jupiter brightens at the suggestion. "I was planning another practice round, but you appear fully occupied." Jupiter wrinkles her nose at the recollections of the slick and smell of gun oil and feeling like an ugly duck next to two gracefully fighting swans.

"I want to hear more from this one," and she waves the sheave. "Maybe in an hour?"

"Very well, Your Majesty." He leans forward, as if to invite her into his kiss, but a discomforted look crosses his face. Jupiter seizes the moment and reaches forward to take the offered kiss, if briefly. He withdraws slightly, noting she cannot seem to release her hold on the sheave.

"Do you want me to stay?" Caine nods to the tablet now resting on her lap.

"No," Jupiter decides. "I don't think so. This is weird enough without an audience. But I appreciate the offer."

"I'll see you in an hour, then," and Caine offers her a more generous kiss, which she returns with vigor. He pulls away reluctantly, then dodges the minefield of memoirs. He turns before closing the door with a final look of concern, but Jupiter has already returned her attention to the sheave at hand. Her altered self flickers again above the screen, chin high, arms tightly folded across her chest as she walks around the ornate furnishings.

 _'If he thought to use our son to further his interests within Abrasax Industries, perhaps now he comprehends the depths of his mistake. I should never have pursued a liaison beyond the Thousand Families. I resented Father for discouraging my more eccentric associations, but I always find his wisdom was the better. His debt to the House Abrasax may have been paid in full, but the break to my heart may never be repaired.' The woman pauses to sit on the chaise. 'Upon much reflection, I will not change the boy's name. I doubt he will thank me for the fate of his genetic kin, should he ever discover the full extent of my retribution. He is an Abrasax. He will reconcile, in time. Meanwhile, I will manage to hide these needles of truth within a straw man of lies.'_

Jupiter shivers. A sudden, bone deep longing to see her own mother overcomes her. She had accepted her own life with a new appreciation after her stint among the galaxies, but she never imagined she would actually miss scrubbing another toilet. She lets the wish to return to that simple, predictable existence wash over her, and she stares at stars like the strangers they are. She breathes a resigned sigh. Life didn't move in reverse. She hopes her mother is finding a safer road. Laying the sheave aside, she picks her way across her quarters, heading for the main deck.

"Any word from the sargorn?" she asks Phylo as she moves into the busy room.

"Nothing yet, Your Majesty." Jupiter hesitates before asking what she really desires.

"Is there any way to check with my family?"

"You can request a report from the Keepers." Jupiter shudders at the thought of those alien bodies. "Perhaps sending an attachment of royal guards. Captain Tsing advanced the request, but Your Majesty has not scheduled their delivery."

"Oh. I suppose I should do that. But I don't think they would fit in well back on Earth." She imagines walking around the neighborhood with a pack of mechanical, walking guns.

"We do have a small contingent of Aegis still patrolling the sector. They can make inquiries."

"Yes, please." She isn't completely comforted by the idea, but she can't think of a better option.

"Your Majesty," Gemma interrupts, "you have an incoming message. Would you like to receive it here?"

"Another one?"

"The signature is from one First Primary of the House of Abrasax." Jupiter pales before recalling that Kalique now bears that title.

"I think I'll take this one in my quarters, thanks."

"It is a request to meet in a communication." Jupiter wrinkles her brow in question.

"How do I do that?"

"You need a visuals disc for this, Your Majesty."

"A what?" Phylo points to the little button on the side of his neck. She recalls Balem and even Caine wear the same. "Oh, I wondered what was for."

"Take this," and he hands her an arc of lightweight metal, indicating she should slip it over her head. "Until you are fitted for a personal disk."

"Sure." Jupiter is certain she will never agree to that, but accepts the device.

"You just touch the side, like this." Jupiter nods.

Back in her quarters, she puts the device on like a girl's hair band, and gasps as suddenly she is back on Cerise, surrounded by tall golden columns and the clusters of cherry red blossoms. She can even smell their nectar.

Kalique appears as if she has been waiting, smiling at Jupiter's awed expression.

"It is good to see you again," she says. Today she wears a low bodiced gown of deep sea green, encrusted with tiny blue gems. Jupiter wants to trust her implicitly, for she had been the first person to extend her a welcome in this strange place. Yet, as had proven her downfall, Jupiter tended towards a gullible level of trust. She knows that Kalique withheld some critical truths like guarded secrets. Jupiter senses the change in Kalique since the last time they had met, when she had wished Jupiter the life she had always dreamed of. Nightmares were also dreams. "You received my message?"

"Yes," Jupiter replies with much less formality.

"I wanted to speak with you prior to the enclave. I'm sure you have questions."

"I suppose I do." But she isn't even sure she knew what to ask. Why didn't she say that Earth's people were meant to be ground into Regenx? Did Kalique know Balem had murdered their mother? What was going to happen to Titus? There were too many things jumbling up all at once. Kalique, whether acknowledging Jupiter's issue or simply furthering her own agenda, continues.

"For my part, I read the initial report. I find it hard to accept that Balem could murder Mother. He always adored her. I must allow that will be for the Commonwealth courts to decide. In any event, his absence is the pivotal event that requires our attention. Your presence is vital."

"What do you want from me?" Jupiter was relieved she didn't have to tell her about Balem. One thing at a time.

"You have yet to establish your credibility among the Thousand Families. I hope the conclave will go some way to rectify that within the House of Abrasax, at least. I had feared the Earth might prove too tempting a fruit. The attack on yourself is evidence my worry was not misplaced."

"You think one of your family wants to steal the Earth?"

"Earth nears its harvest date. Though the close family might show restraint by my request, there are thousands of distant cousins who fortunes are not so propitious. I am certain they would cheerfully join forces with another of the Thousand Families, if they thought the Earth could be wrested from your hands."

"The refinery is destroyed. The Earth will not be harvested."

"I realize the refinery's destruction makes that eventuality more complicated, but one of my own refineries can be at your disposal."

"You don't understand. The Earth will not be harvested. Ever. You said yourself, Earth was only a small part of a much larger industry. Our numbers will not be missed."

"Jupiter, you sound so like Mother." She seems equally pleased and upset regarding this truth. Having some introduction to her previous genetic self, Jupiter isn't overly pleased with the comparison. "As I've said, from where do you think we receive our wealth? How will you protect a backward planet with no capability to defend itself, without an influx of capital? Why do you think it has remained touched only by Belam's hand all these thousands of years? And if you should experience an accident? Are murdered? What of Earth's fate then?"

For a moment Jupiter bristles, thinking a veiled threat lay in those words, then she realizes Kalique simply assumes it a foregone conclusion that Jupiter will use Regenx to extend her life, as her family has done for over a million years. The sargorn in the living room she had fought facing the past month came crashing through her doors of denial. She is nearly overwhelmed.

"I can't think about that right now." Kalique affects an expression of compassion.

"Of course. This is all still so new. Whether you are willing to accept your role as a recurrence or not, the family must. To ensure your continued safety, and the safety of your Earth." Her tone implies Jupiter will have time to change her mind. "This fate rests on you. I must establish my own position, which I, also, never desired." She sighs with regret and pauses a moment to admire one of the richly hued blossoms in their engraved pots beside her. "There are those of the family who will seek to replace our lineage as Prime. They view me as young and inexperienced. I am not my brother. He led the family into great wealth and prestige, expanded our influence and our power. Without him, fears will take root that the House of Abraxas will wither and fade to dust. Earth was poised to be a crowning jewel among our assets." Kalique demurs when she notices how Jupiter's face clouds over. Rather than continue an old argument started long before Jupiter was born, she deftly switches the topic with a lighter tone. "I understand you have yet to secure your royal guard." Did Kalique know everything that happened? Was she watching? Did she have a spy, or did her position just give her access to any record she chose to review? "I'm sure you can acquire your contingent when you select your wardrobe for the conclave."

"Wait, select up my what?" Jupiter feels left adrift by the mercurial change in Kalique's attitude.

"You can't go before the entire House of Abrasax so attired." Kalique's gesture encompasses the black on black practical Aegis wear. Jupiter runs a self-conscious hand down the cloth. She quite liked it, the fit, the comfort, the kinship it provided her with Caine. After a crash course in 'be careful what you wish for,' she was quite content with its simple, practical elegance. But she recalled the regal bearing of the woman on those sheaves. The woman everyone would expect. Kalique was right. Jupiter had to figure out how to fill those shoes, and if that meant buying a new set of sparkling ruby heels, then she had better do it. "I'll send you a list of my best tailors. Normally I would simply have them ordered, but seeing that you are currently so near Orous, you can kill two birds with one stone, as it were. In two days, then." Kalique runs a finger alongside her neck, and the grand room fades into the small, onyx walled chamber aboard the Aegis cruiser.

Jupiter finds herself suddenly itching for a round of intense sparring, even if she comes out a bruised second.


	13. Chapter 13

"We've arrived," Caine reminds Jupiter of their appointments on Orous. She glances up.

"Just a few more minutes." He stands, unsure if he should impose upon her privacy, or wait. Jupiter doesn't seem to notice, engrossed in the current sheave.

 _'I shouldn't have. My empty soul required clear skies and endless seas. Balem disdains my forays into the terses planets. He has become so like my father, so like myself. Yet I find solace among these simple people. Erke is more honorable than any man I've met among the vastness of space. How can I think less of him because his people are meant to be mere fodder for future plunder?'_

Jupiter's eyes cloud with tears. Caine responds with alarm.

"Are you Ok? What's wrong?"

"It's so sad. So romantic." Jupiter wipes away an escaping drop. "She had her heart broken, then she found true love with a terses."

"Oh." Caine appears to wrestle with the concepts. "We should go, your Majesty."

"Ok." Jupiter relinquishes the sheave, and rises.

On the command deck, Kiza greets them.

"Nice boots," Jupiter remarks, noting Kiza now sports a pair of gravity boots like her own. She also notes with some envy the small gun strapped to her thigh. Well, she actually knows how to shoot, Jupiter reminds herself.

"Thanks," Kiza manages a bright smile. "I plan on joining the skyjackers, like my father, if I can." She glances at Captain Tsing, who nods approvingly. "Once he's safely home."

The door to the gravity beam hisses open.

"Advocate Bob?" Jupiter exclaims.

"Out of trillions of sims, that would be unlikely," Phylo explains.

"Hello, Your Majesty. I am your Intergalactic Royal Guide Bob." The sim affects a confident smile. "In fact," the sim's eyes shift sidelong to Phylo, "after my prior performance, my advocate status has been...suspended. Temporarily." His smile stiffens momentarily, then he brightens to his former cheerful self. "However, since I am previously acquainted with Her Majesty, my current employer considered this an acceptable appointment." Phylo shrugs and returns his attention to his station.

"Sure," Jupiter responds and forces her face to smile. Caine's own wear an implacable attitude of resignation. Kiza, however, remains quite enthusiastic.

"Your Majesty," Captain Tsing interjects, "I am assigning Gemma and Hersh to accompany you, at least until you secure your royal guard." Her terse motion includes Gemma and Hersh, a well-toned splice with dark ridges along his face and alert, intent eyes, as well as Caine, drawing them aside.

"That will be our first and foremost stop!" Intergalactic Royal Guide Bob reassures her. Captain Tsing's face does not register reassurance. "I have added the list of exquisite-end tailors to my programming suggested by Her Ladyship, Kalique Abrasax. Shall we?" And he extends his hand for the entourage to enter the beam.

"What was that about?" Jupiter asks quietly as Caine comes to stand beside her in the gravity beam chamber.

"Later." But he appears tense, adding to Jupiter's own nerves.

"I've never been to Orous," Kiza chatters amiably as they descend into the hubbub of the lane below. Jupiter glances down while the platform below closes in. A sea of what seems thousands of variously colored, extravagantly coiffed heads move in a dizzying sea of directions.

"Are all the sidewalks like this?" Jupiter asks as they alight. She gazes around at the massive columns, the gold arched ceiling high overhead, then back to the throng of people.

"Oh, no. This is one of the Entitled's districts. The others are much less grand."

"And much more crowded," Gemma added, her hands at her sides as if ready for any trouble. Bob glances at her with a modicum of disapproval that she would dare dampen such a marvelous outing. She looks back at him with a cool expression on her perfectly smooth face, and Bob's eyebrows lift while he endures a brief shudder. He busies himself with an examination of the directional pillar, then stands aside and offers Jupiter the lead.

"This way to the legion royal offices."

"Incorrect, they are this way," and Gemma nods her head to their left. Bob appears taken aback, but he checks again and then nods enthusiastically.

"This way to the legion royal offices," he repeats, pointing where Gemma had directed. Jupiter frowns at him, endeavoring to follow Gemma's lead from here on out. Caine steps in close behind her, watchful. They dodge through the throng of entitleds, many surrounded by entourages including splices of every shape and size, and personal guards of various matched sets.

Fifteen sliding sidewalks and forty levels lower, they reach a somewhat clearer space. High gilded doors slide open to reveal a golden tinted bridge flanked by two gleaming statues. This lane is much less traveled, and they make good time across the long bridge to enter the massive structure at its end. The next set of high doors slide open, revealing ranks of dark gray, armed guardians surrounding a high podium.

"This is her Royal Majesty, Jupiter Jones Abrasax, come to claim her royal guard." A small figure appears over the top of the podium, cheeks bristling with tufts of soft whiskers.

"You have the sheave?" It demands in a high, squeaky voice. Bob reaches up to hand it over, but the podium proves too tall. A mechanical set of fingers slides out and plucks the tablet from his hand, carrying it up to the attendant.

"Will you be taking the entire contingent?" asks the attendant, leaning over to look at Jupiter.

"I.. don't know. How many is that?"

"Ten thousand." Jupiter's eyes widen and she actually takes a step backward.

"No! What would I do with all that?"

"How should I know?" quips the attendant.

"If I may, Your Majesty," Gemma interjects. "A personal guard might include only a dozen or so, if that is more suitable."

"I'm not sure that's any more convenient," Jupiter grumbles. Caine stands at her shoulder, his soft breath comforting as he speaks gently into her ear.

"I would feel better, if you were safe."

"I've seen you take out a pack of sargorns," she replies. "I feel plenty safe with you." He grins at the compliment, but persists.

"I may not always be at your side, if trouble comes."

"Every little bit helps?" she remarks, recalling words her mother used when the day's work became long and time short. Caine nods. They both look up suddenly at a whirring click and the attendant's bark.

"You," he points accusingly at Kiza, "back!" A chagrinned smile crosses Kiza's face, but she steps away from her enthralled examination of one of the guards, which had evidently taken offense and raised its weapons.

"I could take him," she whispers with a grin.

"Your Majesty?" Bob returns Jupiter's attention to the question at hand.

"Um, Ok, I guess a dozen."

"Very well," sighs the attendant, noting on the sheave. "The remainder will incur the usual storage fee until such time as they are requisitioned." Jupiter opens her mouth to question, but the attendant rushes on. "And what color does Her Majesty Abrasax desire?"

"Color?"

"Traditional Abrasax black? Your offsprings' usual for their personal use, in crimson?"

"I'm not their mother," Jupiter mutters. "What choices are there?" She immediately regrets asking, as the attendant flips down a chart of a hundred variations of hue. "Ok, Ok, let's go with...um, no, how about...Ok, fine, one of each primary color. Two of each," she amends before the attendant can correct her math.

"Very well, Your Majesty." Jupiter bounces a little and grins at Caine. Maybe this shopping thing might actually prove to be fun.


	14. Chapter 14

Jupiter tries on her fifth gown, and frowns.

"That's a lovely piece," intones the unctuous voice of the tailor, an approving smile upon his nut brown face which does not reach his hazel eyes. And it was lovely, a long gown of black heavily embroidered in silver, a low neckline with a high, filigreed collar. Somehow it reminded her too much of the gown from her abortive 'wedding.' The previous gown had also been a black and silver number, a simple black bodice fading to a silver train, and a silver lace shrug for the shoulders.

"Why are they all black and silver?" she asks, noticing a pattern in the choices being offered.

"Why, those were Her Majesty's instructions. They are the heraldic colors of Abrasax Industries."

"Oh. Of course." She replies as if she had known all along. The tailor's thick eyebrows lift slightly. She gazes back at her holographic image, which turns and allows her to admire the vision from every side. It's one thing, she is discovering, to want a thousand beautiful things. Quite another to have to choose a mere handful. Her desire for the wardrobes she once coveted appears to have waned, especially if they consisted of black and silver. Her face lights up when she sees Kiza walk up in her own gown.

Caine's eyes have glazed over, but his ears remain on alert. He, Hersh, and Gemma block the doorway to the private changing areas. Next came the colorful array of newly minted royal guards. Bob stands just outside, providing the royal assemblage their polite space, yet a smile flits over his lips each time his eyes flicker to Gemma.

"I like that one," Jupiter says to Kiza, noting her shining face. The base is a deep plumb, with a shimmering sheath of pale translucent peach that bares her shoulders, but continues down her slim arms and flares in a soft cuff. She spares herself a moment of envy that Kiza enjoys any choice of color. The tailor sniffs, displaying his displeasure at serving a splice, but demurs when Jupiter favors him her nastiest scowl.

Kiza turns to Caine.

"What do you think?" she asks, beaming. He smiles indulgently.

"Pretty." Kiza grimaces.

"What do you really think?"

"It looks hot, and like it would tie you up in a fight." Kiza's eyes widen, and she gives the gorgeous garment an assessing look.

"You're right."

Caine raises his nose, and sniffs. His ears perk. Hersh does the same, and they drop into fighting stances, weapons drawn, each on either side of the entrance. Caine releases his umber and bronze wings, ready to ascend.

"What is it?" Gemma asks, reaching behind her back to retrieve her own twin weapons. A rapid volley of shots fires into the private fitting room, sizzling the holographic Jupiter.

"Noooo!" yells the tailor. He runs forward to rescue his creations being fried by crisscrossing beams, but falls back and wisely sprints out the stock room door. Cries rise up from the royals crowding the shop, and continue into the street as the chaos spreads.

"Caine!" Jupiter yells as he takes to the air, but he hovers, shaking his head.

"Stay with Gemma!"

"Quickly, Your Majesty, to your ship!" Bob yells over the confusion.

"My what?"

"Your lightship!"

"We must return at once to the cruiser!" Gemma instructs.

"The hangar is closer!" argues Bob. "Hangar one thousand seventy.."

"Never mind that," Gemma interrupts. "Relay the coordinates." Bob quickly tilts his hand and he and Gemma touch palms. If a sim could blush, he would have turned exquisitely pink. "I've informed Captain Tsing of our status. Come with me, Your Majesty," Gemma commands, and begins shooting into the crowd. Hersh follows her lead, while Caine takes the fore, searching for the origin of the shots.

"What are you doing?" Jupiter cries aghast as Gemma continues to drop more bodies in the shop's display room.

"Just a stun, to clear the way," Gemma yells back, then returns to focus on the route she is creating.

"Your Majesty!" Kiza yells, and lifts her palm, displaying the array of tabs.

"Oh!" Jupiter remembers her own boot guidance system and rapidly engages them. She and Kiza glide over the bodies mounting behind Gemma, then she trips and sprawls headlong onto the tiers of some oversized headdress. The elegant hem had fouled the gravity boots. She hikes the dress and tries to tie the flowing fabric into a hasty knot at her waist. Kiza does the same, and they soar into the broad corridor now swarming with panic.

"Bob!" Jupiter yells behind her. He hops over the bodies, trying to catch up.

"Ooof!" And Gemma sweeps him up, tucks him under her arm, and begins to run at her considerable top speed toward the nearest welcoming gravity beam.

"Stun!" Jupiter yells at the royal guards, fearing they would take matters into their own limited...hands. In response, her guards engage the other royal guards who have taken offense to their own royals being stunned. Their various colors seem to have created a confusion among the assassins and the offended royals, who cannot be sure to which entitled her guards actually belong. Caine soars in from above, shooting some, knocking others to the ground before rendering them inert. In the bedlam, Jupiter cannot decide who is the enemy that started the fire, and who has become their enemy because of their own in return.

"Aren't we going to get in trouble with the Aegis?" she yells as they run through along the avenue.

"You're legal fund should be sufficient for any fines this incurs," Bob replies cheerily, bouncing along under Gemma's arm.

A silver gleam catches her attention as they glide towards the beam. She sweeps low and lifts the gun as she passes.

"What are you doing?" Kiza calls, swinging closer.

"It's just stunning right?" Jupiter aims the gun. Kiza grasps it, and flips a switch.

"Now, it is just stunning." Jupiter pales.

"Thanks," she mutters, and begins to fire.

"Quickly, before security containment locks down this level," Gemma instructs.

"Positions," Hersh yells, and the royal guard forms a ring around the party. Caine remains poised above, aiming at what appears to be a group of hunters skulking among the fallen. They rise in the beam, volleys of shots following them upward. Two of the guards sizzle. Caine swoops low in response, gauging his shots carefully. Hersh, Gemma and Kiza take aim at the hunters, forcing them to go to ground, allowing Caine to reach the beam just as they breach the next deck.

"This happens more than the Aegis likes to admit," Bob sighs as they emerge on the landing above.

"What?" Jupiter glides as close to Gemma as she can, trusting Caine from above, Gemma as her shield. The festively colored guards glide behind, down by two.

"Assassination attempts, of course. Just part of being an Entitled."

"Not clear yet," Caine reminds them, and Gemma nods towards what appears to be a massive train. They race forward, though no shots follow them from the deck below.

"Have they locked that down, too?" Jupiter asks, gliding along beside him. He grasps her hand, and together they fly faster.

"There are plenty of other ways around," he says gravely. They reach the train, blocked by the throng queued and waiting to embark.

"Tickets," Bob pipes up. "You can put me down," he looks up at Gemma. She swings him upright, and he straightens his tie and pats his hair knob into place.

"Your seal," Caine touches Jupiter's wrist.

"Here, Your Majesty," Bob indicates one of the pillars just outside the sea of people.

"Right." She waves the glowing blue signet along a pillar. A lane suddenly opens, ushering the other entitleds aside.

"Not all royals are equal, Your Majesty," Bob explains. They step onto the lane and it pulls them forward into the foremost door of the vehicle. The door slides shut. Jupiter catches her breath, looking around. Unlike any 'train' she had ever known, this berth was filled with dining tables and chandeliers, a stage with musicians and a dance floor. The royals around them murmur at the disturbance, so the team finds an empty table and, with an air of innocence, take the seats.

"Two stations to the hangar tower," Gemma reports.

"You're damaged!" Bob exclaims with concern. He puts a finger to the scorch mark along Gemma's cheek. She touches the damage, brushing his finger along the way. Jupiter slides the elegant little gun under the table, attempting to tuck it ito the folds of her gown.

"Oh, my dress," she groans. The hem had become shredded by the stray shots and the beams of her boots.

"If I may, Your Majesty." Gemma reaches down and deftly rips the remaining apron of fabric into more of a tea length style. A few of the original travelers turn their noses up, and move to a farther table.

"Huh. Cool," Jupiter responds as Gemma does the same for Kiza.

Two stops later, they resume their watchful positions, and exit the train. No opposition greets them as they rise three levels and cross the bridge to the docking bay. Jupiter looks up through the force field of a roof, jaw slack with amazement. Nothing so large and grand as Titus', tiny even by comparison to the Aegis cruiser. Yet, its belly gleamed in gold and bronze swirls across a black and crimson field.

"Your Majesty," Bob indicates another pillar for her seal. She is spared only that glimpse before Caine rushes them into the gravity beam, and they rise.

The interior is equally elegant and rich.

"This is my ship?" Jupiter runs a finger along the high polish of the wood inlay.

"As part of my assignment, I was uploaded with a list of all properties relevant to the House of Abrasax."

"So, this belonged to Belam." She raises her hand as if burned.

"As a Prime of the House of Abrasax, you are entitled to use of any of the firm's ships."

"But his holdings haven't been decided yet."

"Well, true." Bob conceded.

"You mean, I'm stealing a ship?"

"Technically," Bob hesitates, "yes."

"It opened to your seal, didn't it?" Hersh remarks, and Jupiter half nods, half shrugs her assent.

Caine signals them to follow, and they continue upward until reaching the main deck. He takes the control chair and lifts the guidance system. Nothing happens.

"Your Majesty," he sighs and motions with his head.

"What? Oh." She slides her wrist over the panel. A rumble and the ship lights into life. Gemma takes a station and begins working the controls.

"Grav drive engaged."

"Shit," Caine mutters, looking ahead.

"Six shadow ships to starboard," Gemma reports.

"You," Caine barks at Kiza, "side gunner." Hersh throws himself into the opposing gunner position without direction. The shadow ships begin to fire a blazing round of shots. Caine slides the lightship from the docking bay, Kiza and Hersh returning shot. The trajectories reach far beyond the shadow ships, and the tidy lane of traffic minding its busy business begins to scatter like a nest of disturbed ants.

"I think the legal fund is likely to suffer a bit, Your Majesty," remarks Bob.

"Buckle up!" Caine calls. Under his guidance, the lightship angles forward and down, towards the planet. Jupiter grips the sides of her chair, watching in horror as they careen in and out between the disarray of ships. The squad of shadows follows, firing. They swing close to one of the great towers, then he sharply pulls up. Hersh hits one shadow square, and the ship spatters into its subsequent parts, spraying out before gravity claims them.

"The Aegis is aware of our condition. Zeros are scrambling." Two of the shadows come at their ship from either side, spraying them with bolts which spark off the screen. Jupiter gasps and squeezes her eyes shut. Kiza crows with success and Hersh destroys a second, but four more slide in to take their positions.

Caine rolls the ship, then tilts straight up towards one of the primary greatrings circling the planet. He skims low, using the towers and docks for cover. The shadows fire indiscriminately, so with a grimace he pulls away, unwilling to cause more damage. Back out in more open space, a dozen more shadows pepper them with fire. One of the side engines coughs and spins away. The ships lists crazily before Caine compensates.

Suddenly, a volley of fire spews over the ship from behind.

"That's not the Aegis," and Hersh redirects his fire.

"Wait, they are firing with us, not against us," Caine calls back. The two ships fire in unison, taking out four more shadows which spin crazily towards the surface.

"That is an Abrasax signal," Gemma explains. Then a dozen squadrons of zeros dart among the shadows, causing them to scatter. Caine aims the ship straight up, and clear of the fray.

"Abrasax lightship LS97, please confirm your intentions," Gemma commands.

"Happy to be of service, Your Majesty," is the sum of their reply before the ship turns and rapidly moves off.

"Entitleds," Hersh grunts. "So that was the ship Captain Tsing thought was ghosting us?"

"Status report?" Captain Tsing requests over the auditory communications, and behind her, Gemma speaks, but Jupiter isn't listening. One of the cabinet doors to the rear of the main deck had been knocked ajar during the fire fight. A gleam of iridescent silver catches her eye, and she unbuckles and steps towards it, pulling the door wider. Her mouth drops in awe at the armor within. Bob, ever on the job, follows her.

"Why does it shine like that? With colors?"

"That is an iridium alloy, one of the rarest metals in the universe."

"So rare only an Abrasax could afford it?"

"Presumably, Your Majesty." Jupiter lifts the scales, and they run through her hands like water. Gemma occupied, Caine relinquishes the pilot seat to Hersh and moves to examine what has so enchanted Jupiter.

She looks to Caine, and breaks out in a Cheshire cat smile.

"Now there's an idea."


	15. Chapter 15

Jupiter sets the sheave aside with an intent sigh.

"It's time," Caine murmurs. "You ready?"

"I hope so. Come on, Bob, let's do this."


	16. Chapter 16

"You may enter now, Malidictes." Kalique nods as Malidictes enters the ledger from the latest House of Abrasax conclave. The glorious black gown of plush velvet hugs her shoulders and trails behind her across the dais. Delicate silver chains glinting with hints of blue form a network across her bodice, meeting in a braided belt hung low, with baubled ends streaming over the deeply pleated skirt. Her dark hair is piled within a glittering tiara as tall as it is wide. Ringlets trail along her face and down her back. Thick silvery blue bracelets form sparkling rows upon her wrists.

She appears tired, her face drawn, her lips tight.

The ledger's image is currently stilled. Two thousand gilded seats ring the raised central dais where the two stand. Nearly every seat houses a similarly attired member, though a substantial number of their accouterments are not nearly so grand, or so newly minted. Most had come freshly from a Regenx bath, even those who could ill afford it. This was not the moment to show their weakness, or their avarice. Malidictes surveys them, examining every face, marking each against his sheave.

"I do not see Her Majesty among the attendees," Malidictes notes with displeasure, yet Kalique does not appear displeased.

"Please attend to the expressions of the family. Make note of your initial impressions." She steps aside, and her own image takes her place.

"Yes, My Lady." Kalique slips her delicate finger across the tiny communication node on her neck, and the frozen participants come to life.

 _"Good of you to come." Kalique addresses the assemblage with a slight nodding bow._

 _"Good of you to receive us," chorus most of the household._

Malidictes notes who mutters, who cheers, and who simply responds.

 _"You are well received," and the recorded Kalique slides the train aside with a practiced flip of her foot and turns to sit, straight backed and shoulders squared, upon the single, intricately carved arching chair. This day, the carvings reflect her personal insignia, a dozen silver dragonflies._

 _"I have my reasons for calling the conclave. I would hear from my kin prior to addressing my own. Who would speak?"_

 _"I," replies one of the members from the nearest tier, that reserved for the most senior members._

 _"Speak, Lord Hotus."_

 _"I hear that Balem is no longer among us. I honor your grief, Kalique, Second Prime of the House of Abrasax." Kalique's face remains unchanged despite the insult. She expects nothing less from Lord Hotus. He is a Tertiary cousin, far from the line of primacy. He often used that low position to poke and prod, for he had less to lose than those who hid behind his brashness._

 _"I receive your honor, I that am First Prime of the House of Abrasax."_

 _"That is yet to be decided." Kalique lets the statement hang between them, until the Lord takes his seat._

 _"I have received rumors," rises another potential enemy, Lady Prospini, a grasping Tertiary cousin whose fortunes had considerably faded, "that a terses was assisted to ascend to entitled, by your hand."_

 _"My hand did not raise any status."_

 _"You claim no involvement?"_

 _"Did I desire to meet the recurrence of my own mother? Is that the question you ask?" The Lady falters while she constructs her next attack._

 _"Did you not arrange for her to transfer the title of Seraphi Abrasax?"_

 _"For that," spoke a voice Kalique knew well, "blame the Aegis." Even the Aegis could not disallow Titus attendance to a Household ordered council. His collar remained, but no blue lights flickered. Nothing would be recorded for any outside this hall. Kalique nods her thanks, yet shoots him a pointed glance. He merely grins and slouches a bit more into his gilded seat._

 _"Titus, you declare that Kalique had no part in this charade?"_

 _"None," Titus says simply with a dismissive wave of his hands. Lady Prospini hesitates, then resumes her seat._

 _"There passes the rumor, that Balem's death was no accident." Lady Hacat speaks while she stands, her tone accusing. She was a Secondary Heir. A direct kin line, should the line of Seraphi prove incapable of holding the throne._

 _"There is an equal rumor," rises Lord Belius, "that Balem was the aggressor in Lady Seraphi's death." A murmur of discord rises and falls in waves throughout the hall. Kalique raises her chin. Lord Belius has always been a favored uncle, brother to her mother._

 _"Never," rebukes Lady Hacat. She had considered herself a friend and advisor to Belam. Kalique had heard his true regard for the lady, however. "Who would gain the most, should Balem fade? Who would dare to murder him?" Her eyes bore into Kalique, daring her to deny it, daring her to claim how much she adored her cold, ruthless brother._

 _"I would dare." All heads turn. At the farthest tier of the assemblage, reserved for the youngest members, where not so long ago Kalique herself would have been seated, a figure rises. From her vantage point, at first Kalique can view only the silvery blue helm covering the face, the Abrasax winged chevron limning the eyes, the braced V delicately pinioned above the nose. As the figure moves towards the central aisle, the helm is adjoined by a shirt of silver scales, crowned by sweeping pauldrons like dragon's claws. Beneath, a skirt of silver scales met the gleaming greaves. As the figure descends the tiers, Kalique's lips twitch in a grin, which she hastily suppresses._

 _"I would dare," repeats the figure, and as she reaches the dais, she lifts one silver gloved hand, and removes the helmet. Jupiter Jones shook out her long dark hair, and turned to the assemblage. "I was there, at his end, when he admitted the murder of my predecessor, Seraphi Abrasax. This truth will be officially logged with the Aegis."_

 _"You are not Seraphi Abrasax," Lady Hacat hisses. She had never placed great stock in spiritual matters. "You are merely a recurrence. You mock us by wearing that armor, carrying that insignia."_

 _"Prove it," chimes in Lady Prospini. "Prove you are the authentic recurrence of Our Lady, the Abrasax Sovereign."_

 _"My gene print is on file. You have the means to investigate. I suggest you do so."_

 _"And what of Belam's legacy?" Lady Hacat picks up her thread again. "Are you laying claim to it?"_

 _"That is for the courts to decide. I claim nothing at this time, nothing beyond which is already mine."_

 _"The Earth?" Kalique offers. Jupiter inclines her head, but does not turn._

 _"My predecessor bequeathed that estate to myself. That legacy is beyond contestation."_

 _"And what of the Primacy?" Lord Hotus nearly bellows. "Are you here to throw your once esteemed weight behind a particular candidate?"_

 _"I did not come here to lay claim to Abrasax Industries. I came at the behest of the First Prime of the House of Abrasax, Lady Kalique Abrasax. What comes after is of small concern to me." Jupiter turns to face Kalique. "By your leave, Lady?" Kalique nods graciously._

 _"It was good of you to come, Jupiter Jones Abrasax." And Jupiter's image fades._

Kalique halts the ledger.

"Well," Malidictes recovers himself, "that was an unexpected turn."

"Indeed." Kalique beams as if she herself had wrought this amazing transformation.

"Do you believe this will solidify your position?"

"No, but it may solidify whomever I decide to take up the throne. The choice is now mine to make."

"And Her Majesty will be accepted as the recurrence of Lady Seraphi?"

"Of that, I have no doubt."


	17. Chapter 17

Jupiter removes the communication headband and returns to the gray walls of the sparring hall. She groans as Bob and Caine assist in removing each layer of the Abrasax ceremonial armor.

"How fortuitous for my fashion upgrade to include arming." Bob beams about his new utility. Beneath, Jupiter wears her comfortable Aegis black on black.

"I will never complain about being myself, ever again!" Caine favors her a knowing look. "Ok, maybe I will. But I am so glad I am not really her. Them."

"But, wasn't what this was all about?" Kiza wonders aloud, admiring the armor while she receives and sorts the pieces as they are shed. "Convincing them you're truly royal?"

"No, no, this was about giving them what they want so they leave me alone. All of them." Caine notices that, despite her confident words, Jupiter is shaking with emotion. He folds his arms around her, and she melts into them. "At least long enough that I can get back to what is really important." Kiza appears thoughtful.

"My father?" Jupiter manages a nod, curling into Caine's encompassing wings. "Come on, Bob." Kiza touches his arm. "Let's go see Gemma."

"She doesn't want to see me. Does she?" He says hopefully and trots behind her.

"Titus was there?" Caine asks softly.

"Yes." Jupiter shudders.

"His time will come."

"Yes."


	18. Chapter 18

"Walk with me."

Stinger halts his martial practice at the sound of her voice. His head bows against his will, his eyes reflecting the anger at his body betraying his heart. He had been graced without the Empress' presence the past few days. He finds himself uncomfortably comforted by her attentions. He falls in step beside her. The sepentant servitant, swathed in subdued greens and browns, and a retinue of aqua and black sims follow behind. This day she wears a catsuit of silvery blue shot with midnight blue webbing. Her hair is wound in an array of practical braids twined with deep blue cord. A sheen matching his own covers her brow, as if she too has just come from martial exercises.

"I hear our little recurrence made quite an impression at the Abrasax conclave." Stinger remains silent. He wouldn't know anything about that, but a question crosses his face regarding how she does. "You know, we are distant cousins, the Abrasax and my own house. Our interests diverged some generations back over a disagreement." She pauses at a window, admiring the sea of ice beyond.

"I am not party to the politics of royals, Your Majesty," Stinger says finally.

"Of course you aren't. That is the problem with splices. Their lives are so short. The regulations so stringent. Prices manipulated such that it is far cheaper to purchase a replacement then provide them more time." She motions with a nod to the sims in her retinue. "I prefer the company of sims, for that very reason. They won't die just when I become attached. Pevir, now, I have provided him with as many lives as I could conceal from the Aegis marshals. One of the perks of my continued solitude. But you are a marshal, aren't you?" Stinger doesn't answer the obvious.

"This was once an Abrasax estate." She motions to the tips of mountains jutting from the cracked and shimmering sheets of ice. "This is their legacy, not mine. I prefer my tersies contained, mollified. I care for them intimately. I cull the old, the weak. No one hungers. No one dies of war. They thrive."

"Is one slavery better than other?" Morkenin turns to him, ancient eyes knowing.

"We are all slaves, to something. That was the argument which created the break, you know. The Abrasax Industries maxim, "Humanely sourced, Ethically harvested." A soft, rueful laugh escapes her. "It makes for good copy. After the last uprising, the Commonwealth championed such policy, placating the conscience of the time hungry masses. But this," and she sweeps a hand across the horizon, "this is the truth."

"I don't see what this has to do with Jupiter. With me, or my daughter."

"I understand Jupiter has no intention of harvesting the Earth." Stinger swallows hard. "I have no qualms regarding the House of Abrasax suffering economic hardship from this decision. Already the line weakens. Balem, swallowed by the wreckage of his refinery. Kalique has fallen into obsession with her garden. Young Titus is a failure. Of his inherited planets, one should have already reached harvest, a second appears thousands of years behind schedule. When his fortunes run dry, which they will at the rate he consumes them, he will come to know the life of any Tertiary cousin. I do not envy their collapse." Her lips thin as she smiles, as if imagining their eventual demise.

"You say that, but I wonder if that is the truth." Stinger dares to speak openly, knowing what is likely to come. "You would trade places with the Abrasax if you could."

"I have a dozen human herds. I have planets for my private use. I have all the time in the universe. What more could one desire?"

"Respect."

Her eyes tighten, and so does his collar. Stinger drops to his knees, vision blacked. When he sees clearly again, she is leaning over him, dissecting his pain.

"I want Jupiter Jones to harvest the earth, or cull the earth, or forego the family motto and hothouse the earth. I don't care. That she, merely an upstart, just some free range terses, believes her planet deserves a special status. No." She rises and motions to Pevir. "It is time to arrange that message for your daughter."


	19. Chapter 19

Jupiter favors the twinned, sun yellow royal guards parked beside her door with a scowl.

"Fat lot of good you'll do in a ship's battle," she quips, and enters her quarters. She limps slightly as she passes, evidence of a recent bout with Kiza. Rubbing a shoulder, she stares at the sheaves now neatly stacked in the chest after Gemma had them organized. She walks away, pointedly examining the stars beyond the window, then sneaks another glance. She sighs, and moves to stand before them. She runs a finger along the bindings, finally opting for one on the far right. She hops on her bed like a girl preparing to read a favored novel, and the sheave comes to life. This woman is so unlike the regal matriarch who commanded her royal household. She sat in a contemplative pose, eyes staring into the distance.

' _Had these events had not coincided, the rest might never have come to fruition. Had my heart not been broken, I might never have sought solace among the tersies, loved again, and deeply regretted their treatment at our hands. Had I not reached the age of primature, and in my solitude sought the sheaves of my forebears, I would never have found the secret. Had I uncovered their secret even a year sooner, surely I would have followed their example. As it is, I cannot now look away. I cannot ignore what we do, and what could have been.' She rises, wringing her hands with rising anger._

 _'My father taught me well, and how I hate him for it. I see his face, my face, the culmination of my instruction, the pinnacle of my creation, in Belam. The hate I feel for him, is the hate I feel for myself._

 _'My dearest Kalique avoids me, now.' Her face falls and she looks over her shoulder with a sorrowful regret. 'She cannot bear to hear the words my heart must speak.' Then her face softens._

 _'Titus. I place my hopes in Titus. He may be the only one who truly understands.'_

Jupiter stares at the sheave, eyes widening.

"No," she says to herself. "Impossible." She throws down the sheave and jumps from the bed. "Don't you dare," she yells to the wavering image of the woman in the sheave. "Don't you dare try to change my mind!"


	20. Chapter 20

"Ah, my dear Jupiter. Finally you have gotten around to me."

"What do you want, Titus?" Jupiter stands at the top step of Titus well appointed receiving room. Caine stands just behind her right shoulder, offering her his strength, and his anger. Kiza stands to her left, next to Captain Tsing. Gemma supports the team on the far right. Titus rises as if entertaining a group of less than honored guests.

"You've come to me. What do _you_ want? Wine?" And he motions Famulus where she waits his pleasure near the wall, now relied on for more domestic duties during in his disgrace.

"Are you ready to admit you have Stinger?" Titus passes a haughty glance over them.

"Stinger?"

"Mr. Apini," Famulus explains at his ear.

"I'm sorry to disappoint you, but I've had no further business with Mr. Apini." He looks pointedly at Jupiter while raising a glass for Famulus to fill. "Is that all you came for?"

"I want the truth." Jupiter steps down, Caine following close behind her.

"Truth is a slippery serpent, isn't it?" He takes a sip, and seats himself on the double headed chaise.

"He isn't capable of the truth. You can't trust anything he says, Your Majesty." Jupiter glances over her shoulder, but Caine isn't really speaking to her. His eyes are glued on Titus, his jaw twitching.

"Mother used to say," Titus says slowly, drawing out each word, "'the best place to hide a needle of truth is within a straw man of lies.'"

"What does that have to do with anything?" Titus leans forward, favoring Caine a wry look.

"Ask yourself this, lycantant. Did yourself and Mr. Apini receive full pardons?" Caine shuffles, the self-conscious flutter of his wings bearing witness to that truth. "I once said you were as resourceful as promised. Why would I have hired you, if I didn't already believe that to be the case?"

"So I would find Jupiter. Get her off planet under Balem's nose. So you could gain possession of the Earth."

"And a fine job you did. Balem was infuriated, to the point of carelessness, I might add. Is that all that transpired between us?" Titus leans back again, sipping his wine.

"I rescued Jupiter from your murderous scheme," Caine growls, still wishing Jupiter had let him shoot.

"Because?" Caine struggles with the question. Jupiter looks between them, collecting the details of the picture Titus is painting.

"Because I tripped the emergency pressure suits before you could feed me to the void."

"And there were pressure suites in that airlock because? Really, are you sure you want a mate so thick-headed?" Jupiter's mouth opened in a slight 'oh' just before twisting into a strangled sort of grimace.

"You could have just killed him outright." Titus tips his glass to her. She examines the information she now held, like a fistful of juggler's balls. Her brain fights back, unwilling to see, to accept.

"You set all this up. Why?" Titus pauses and looks at Kiza, Gemma, and Captain Tsing. His usual glib manner falls into a grim line.

"I will not continue in their presence. Or, with this," and he points to his collar.

"So, that's your game." Kiza accuses, her last hopes of finding her father fading. "Bargaining for your freedom." Titus shrugs off the tempting suggestion.

"Don't remove it then, if you insist. But I prefer not to have this exchange recorded for anyone to review." Captain Tsing steps forward, ready to protest any act which could result in the accidental release of her disreputable prisoner.

"These ledgers are held in the Commonwealth security." Titus lowers his chin and looks pointedly at her. She wants to argue, but, for all she might wish it not so, she also is aware of the spies within spies that money could buy. She glances down, judging her options, before turning to Jupiter.

"Your Majesty?" she asks.

"Do it." She huffs in resignation, and motions for Gemma to deactivate the collar. The blue lights fade out. Titus continues to stare at her, at them.

"We'll be just outside, your Majesty."

"You too, Famulus," Titus motions her away.

"My Lord." The door hisses closed. Titus returns to his glass, staring over the rim at Jupiter.

"I told you once that my mother had experienced a profound change at the end of her life. That I began to carry out the work she started. That this was the reason she was murdered."

"Balem murdered her," Jupiter interjects. Titus pauses. He slowly sets his glass aside.

"You know this?"

"He admitted it to me before he...fell."

"I see." He looks into the distance. "I wonder..." but he does not elaborate.

"Why would your mother say she placed her hopes in you?" Titus brings his attention back to the conversation at hand. He clasps his palms in a V before his knees, and speaks with an unaccustomed gravity which doesn't suit him.

"Because she took me, once. Had me watch a harvest in all its horrific glory. She impressed on me the depths of our depravity. Only afterward did she divulge her secret, our greatest, darkest secret."

"Secret?" Jupiter has no doubt this family she has inherited is full of secrets. She savors his discomfort, then feels a twinge of guilt. She despises him for what he has done, yet she finds no joy in another's suffering, even his.

"That our very existence was a lie. Our wealth, our power, our righteous self-justification, all based on a lie."

"What lie? Get to the point."

"Is there one? Let's go, Your Majesty." Caine turns as if to walk away, attempting to push Titus, unhappy watching the confusion and pain wash over Jupiter's face. For himself, he fears that his right to kill the man slipping from his grasp, but not his hate. Titus, perhaps reneging his manipulative dance for just that moment, or perhaps needing to free himself of these thousands of years of burden, hurries on.

"That there was another way. Suppressed for millions of years by the Thousand Families. I don't know if Balem was aware, but I don't think he would have cared either way. But I knew, because she made sure I knew. I'm not sure I thank her for that." He stares into the distance, ghosts washing across his face.

"Which is?" Jupiter turns to face him, expectant and untrusting all at once. She thrusts her hands on her hips, demanding, waiting. Titus returns his thoughts to the present.

"I've never seen the sheave myself. She said it was buried deep within the archives. I have no knowledge of the details. Only that, when it came to our nearly priceless commodity of time, rather than a handful of Families of the First Estate having a corner on the market, there should be a market on every corner." He raises his glass, allowing that truth to sink in, and drains the nearly full cup.

"Maybe it's time to burn that straw man to the ash."


	21. Chapter 21

_'I've tried. For a thousand years I have tried._

 _'But as each end draws near, as ache claims my bones, my heart flutters with ague, my senses fade, every time I wake in that damned bath, youthful once more. I fight a losing battle with my own will. Perhaps, had I the courage, if I could take my own life in some captivating fashion, I might raise the power to stir the hearts and minds, to shake the foundation of Abrasax Industries, the Thousand Families, and heave it all down, crushed into dust beneath the feet of time. If I believed that would stop the harvesting, I would do it. But that is a fantasy. I have only the argument, not the answer._

 _'I pity my children, my house, that we are bound to this addiction. I bear the burdens of all Abrasax, that we have willfully driven humanity down this dreadful path._

 _'What I do next, I do purely for myself._

 _'Our battles of words have become increasingly violent. I know I will find the means to goad him into performing the act of which I, myself, have proved incapable.'_

The door to her chambers dings, and Jupiter looks up from the sheave. Her face is clearly troubled, so deeply she cannot explain exactly what troubles her.

"Come in," she says low and full of sorrow. Her eyes expectantly look for Caine's reassuring ones.

"Your Majesty," replies a gravel filled voice, and the sargorn steps into the chamber, filling it to bursting.

"Oh, hello." Jupiter swings her feet off the bed, standing so she doesn't feel so completely dominated by the sargon's size.

"I have news. I have located Mr. Apini's captors. He is on an ice planet, at Andromeda's edge."

"Yes, I know."

"But," The sargorn lifts its head, apparently quite put out. It was so proud to have accomplished its mission.

"Kiza received a coded FTL a few hours ago. Whoever it is tried to blackmail her. We're still not sure exactly what they wanted. But she couldn't bring herself to be their spy." The sargorn's wings flickers.

"You tracked the signal?"

"No, it bounced off too many relays. But whoever it is made a mistake. They showed Stinger. Being...tortured." Jupiter gulps back a rising bile at that image. The first time it had been played, she had left the room. Kiza's stricken face had shamed her into watching. "Even then, Stinger managed to relay their location to Caine. Some hidden code the skyjackers use. Even the Aegis don't know what all the signals mean."

"Then I have failed, Your Majesty. My fate is in your hands," and the sargorn falls to one knee, rattling the floor as she does. Jupiter steps backward, startled. Jupiter sags a little more under another weight placed upon her thin shoulders.

"Do you, do you have a name?" Jupiter asks softly.

"Aknet, Your Majesty." She raises her scaly reptilian head, studying Jupiter, as if she suddenly comes to a decision.

"Well, Ok, Aknet. I have one question. Well, two, but the second one depends on the first."

"Yes, Your Majesty." Jupiter takes a steadying breath.

"Aknet, are you a spy?" Aknet's scaly lips twist.

"Yes, and no." Jupiter crosses her arms.

"Not an answer. Why are you here?" She cannot force any anger into her voice. Seraphi's last words haunt her. So much has been placed on her. She feels the weight of Earth, of her family like a smothering blanket. She fears she carries the fate of Stinger in her inexperienced hands. Only Caine seemed certain they could recover his oldest friend and mentor. She had to try, with every weapon she could muster.

"When the lycantant pack came recruiting, I joined intending to discover their plans."

"And then you joined me because?"

"To watch. To see if you were a worthy lord." Jupiter scowls

"I'm nothing like Belam." Bitterness taints her voice. Her family imprisoned in that horrible death chamber. Balem's final accusation. His cries as he fell. These are seared into too many of her dreams.

"Exactly. With Belam lost, we servitants assigned to project Earth became lost. Those who escaped. Some sought other work, but most have nowhere else to go." Like the keepers? Jupiter wondered. Who, or what, else had been left behind?

"And your part in all this?"

"To report back to those who wait at the edge of this sector, and decide if we should pledge our loyalty to you."

"Decide? I never asked for anyone's pledge."

"Exactly, Your Majesty." Jupiter soaks this in.

"Sargorn, um, Aknet, you have become familiar with this planet where Stinger is held captive?"

"Yes, My Lady." Jupiter pauses before posing her last question.

"Would you like to go hunting?"


	22. Chapter 22

"Her Majesty requires your presence." Stinger hops up from another round of vigorous training. He stares hard at Pevir before following. They walk a long corridor in silence until they come upon a tall set of intricately engraved doors. The sepentant pushes them open, motioning Stinger in. Beyond is a vast hall, darkened so that Stinger cannot determine where the shadows become walls. At its heart burns a single, long flame, twisting high. Before the flame, floating in a pose of serene meditation, is the Empress. She wears a simple white catsuit and a single, thick braid falls down her back. A translucent blue cloth waves like a cloud around her.

"She spends much of her time thus," Pevir murmurs. "She will attend you at her convenience." The sepentant closes the doors silently, standing at attention just inside. Stinger settles down to wait, but the Empress' eyes slowly open. With a slight wave of her hand, she descends and steps closer.

"I have not received a confirmation from your Kiza." Her face is calm, but her voice is freezing cold. Stinger shudders, realizing his time grows short. "Mr. Night, what have you to say?" From the shadows, a small man, nearly as blanched as the world outside, emerges in an obeisant crouch.

"My spies confirm the message was received by the Aegis cruiser. Whether it reached Ms. Apini is uncertain."

"You?" Stinger glares at the splice who had lured Jupiter into the hands of Balem.

"I'm a survivor, Mr. Apini." The splice seems far too at home at the side of the Empress. Although, Stinger notes with a grim smile, he keeps Her Majesty squarely between the sepentant, and himself.

"You rat. And Balem never discovered you feeding secrets to House Heelsinth." Mr. Night shrugs.

"Lord Balem entrusted me with the management of the refinery in his extended absences. I found ways to engage my considerable skills in every avenue of the industry. Information is merely one aspect in which I excel. I made myself, invaluable."

"No one is so invaluable." Mr. Night bows his assent under Empress Morkenin's chilling assessment. "I found it amusing to know about the Abrasax sovereign's recurrence even at the same moment as His, belated, Highness Balem."

"I was pleased to offer Your Majesty such a rare piece of news." Morkenin lifts her chin by way of refutation.

"There is nothing special about a recurrence." Stinger cannot help himself. He was there was there, when his own hives had responded, had confirmed Jupiter's royal gene print.

"But, that is royalty, reborn."

"Sentimental children. We seed the planets from our own genetic line. Given time and population growth, it is not statistically impossible that a recurrence will generate. How many have gone unnoticed because no one monitored? I myself have encountered two such recurrences during my tenure as Empress."

"What did you do?"

"Culled them, of course. I find it amusing to think that, somewhere out there, the product of my own genes seeps into other people, and they pay me well for it."

Mr. Night's ears twitch. He turns towards the sound.

"Proximity alarm." The bored, enduring look on Morkenin's face is rapidly replaced by a keen alertness. She moves towards the meditation gravity beam, and in seconds it transforms into an array of floating controls. Her eyes snap briefly to Stinger, and he is born to the floor by his collar, face up, grounded there and unable to escape. "What did you do?" Morkenin asks without expecting an answer.

"Your solitude will be your downfall."

"I'm not so alone as that." Even as she speaks the words, Mr. Night scampers into the shadows. Chimes ring throughout the enclave, answered by the running feet of a thousand sims. From his vantage point on the floor, Stinger sees dozens jog into the meditation chamber. All are girded for war, bearing an energy pistol on each thigh, and a twin pair daggers across their back. Every foot sports sharp claws, and they bristle with what he assumes are poisoned spikes.

Stinger's mouth curls in a cynical half smile. The Aegis will blast them from the air. The sims would never lay hand on anyone he cared about. Then he sees Morkenin rise, each arm ringed with controls, around each leg. A fighter's visor forms before her face, and he realizes she can control an entire squadron of zeros from this very room.

"Come on, Caine," he whispers, and the fight is on.


	23. Chapter 23

Caine climbs inside the zero capsule and engaged the collection field. The zero forms around him. He had done same procedure countless times, with Stinger. Instead, a dozen other faces step into their capsules. They drop.

On deck, Gemma reports.

"War hammers launching."

"Begin clearing," Captain Tsing orders. Below, lines of continual fire form a tube, which the zeros angle into. War hammers explode, forming a corridor for the zeros. As fast as a hundred are destroyed, a hundred more flow in to take their place. Caine dodges as he flies towards the surface. Twenty ships gain the planet, and immediately dozens of wraith ships angle towards them. No one is within. Morkenin controls them all.

Caine swings wide, firing. He dives, and four wraiths follow. The mountain tops loom, and he zig-zags between the peaks, luring the wraiths closer. One hits a rocky protrusion and explodes in a spray of pieces. He swings around, taking out another two with his guns. But his zero has already sustained extensive damage, and a single shot sends him careening towards the surface. He struggles with the controls, aiming towards the glistening palace he can see below him. His zero plummets into the snow.

"Caine is down."

"No!" Jupiter cries, pacing behind Captain Tsing.

"Life signs are still stable," Gemma amends. Jupiter takes a deep breath, feeling utterly helpless, and hating it.

"The zero squad has been disabled."

"Damn it," Captain Tsing hisses.

"A ping from the surface," Gemma calls.

"Caine?"

"No," Gemma angles her controls, "the Empress Morkenin." Captain Tsing glances at Jupiter, but doesn't ask.

"Relay," she commands.

"Jupiter Jones," comes the cold, calm voice. There is no image, as if the Empress considers this beneath her. "I deem this an unnecessary waste of resources and funds. My only interest is you."

"What do you want?" Jupiter is scared, angry, and she cannot keep the emotion from her voice.

"For you to end this. Face to face. I have relayed the coordinates."

"The line is severed," Gemma says. Captain Tsing looks over her shoulder at Jupiter. Jupiter turns to Kiza, who nods without question.

"What do you intend to do?" Captain Tsing calls to them as they rush from the command deck.

"What I can," Jupiter calls over her shoulder.

They return a short time later. Kiza wears black on black Aegis gear, a face covering helm, and two guns at her hips. Jupiter enters the deck behind her, encased in the gleaming Abrasax armor.

"Thank you, Bob," she whispers, and squares her shoulders.

"Are you sure you want to do this?" Captain Tsing asks as she walks beside them to the gravity beam.

"No, but I have to." Captain Tsing nods with admiration.

Jupiter sits behind Captain Tsing as she guides the planet jumper down. She squirms with anxiety. She's never attempted a rescue before, certainly never tried to plan one. Her stomach twists as the white planet looms ever closer.

"Who is this person?" Jupiter's question is muffled by the force field over her face.

"She is one of the First Estate. One of the oldest. Her house and House Abrasax have been competitors and enemies for generations." Jupiter nods, her mind numb.

"Be careful, Your Majesty."

The ship hovers above the landing pad, and Jupiter descends. A faint blue line appears in her helmet, pointing the way, and she glides to the coordinates. She slows to stand before the massive doors. She stares at the enormous emblem, a stylized wolf's head on a field of black, before she releases a ragged sigh and pushes them open.

She walks in, eyeing the ranks of sims, weapons glittering red and gold from the towering column of flame. Behind them, the Empress Morkenen stands tall, imperious, bathed in blue light where she controls her world. With a wave of her wrist, the sims turn as once body to face Jupiter. She is grateful the helmet hides her gulp of fear. She glances over and sees Stinger, locked against the floor. At her notice, Morkenin flickers her fingers, and Stinger slides along the floor and up the wall, clutching the collar to keep from choking. Morkenin raises her chin, as if daring Jupiter to respond. Jupiter shudders, but keeps stepping forward, one foot, then another, forcing herself to keep moving.

"Enough," Jupiter orders in her best Seraphi impersonation.

"You think to command me? You are an infant, an ignorant." Morkenin flows around the towering column of flame like ice on a Chicago river. "I have lived five hundred thousand years. What are you?"

Jupiter pauses, counting her breaths, then plants her feet and answers with conviction.

"The diversion."

From the door, Kiza and a handful of dark clad Aegis warriors send volleys into the ranks of armed sims, dropping dozens. More sims light up the chamber with a furious round of shots aimed towards the new threat. The warriors form a wall of shields and return shots, but a few pass by and three of the Aegis soldiers are wounded.

Aknet sweeps into the chamber, knocking Morkenin sideways and disrupting her controls. In response, Morkenin taps one of the thin bracelets on her wrist, and a force shield snaps around her. She rolls and regains her balance, engaging Aknet. Aknet is powerful and well trained, using her wings to sweep, her legs to pound, her claws to grasp, but Morkenin is agile, sliding beneath or spinning away from each blow.

From behind one of the massive doors, the sepentant Pevir swings out, attacking attacks Kiza. She spins and knocks the daggers from his hand, then chops him on the small of his neck. He falls forward, but turns and comes in low. Kiza is almost knocked back, but she takes his moment and flings him down. He rises, and Kize kicks him back, into one of the sims. A spike impales his leg. He stares in shock, then drops.

"The pillar of fire!" Stinger chokes out a yell from the shadows of the wall. Following his command, the soldiers redirect, sending a barrage sizzling into the flame. Aknet ducks and rolls out of the line of fire. Morkenin rolls in the opposite direction, scanning the scene with a tactical eye.

"Take her!" Morkenin commands, pointing to Jupiter. Aknet leaps and flies over the Aegis bolts, diving to reach Morkenin. Jupiter begins backing away as two rows of sims advance towards her. A path opens between their the ranks, and two Aegis warriors rush in to join Aknet.

Seizing the new opening, Kiza glides to Stinger. She struggles with the collar. Jupiter tries to glide toward them, but dozens of sim bodies block her way. Their shots spark off the armor, their daggers sliding over the scales, but she cannot get past them. Kiza moves as if to assist her, but Stinger grabs her arm.

"No!" Kiza hesitates, recalling the look on the sepentant's face. Morkenin, pressed by Aknet and the Aegis warriors, still notices her there, and a thin smile passes her face. A handful of sims angle towards Kiza and Stinger, weapons and spikes bristliing. Jupiter redoubles her efforts, punching and kicking at sims, but, though dented by her blows, they just bounce back up. She manages to knock a few heads askew, but doesn't know how to use her limited skills in a real fight. Morkenin turns her attention to Aknet, and with a graceful move, slings her backwards. The two reinforcements are down, motionless.

Jupiter loses sight of Kiza in the sea of sims. Cold helplessness washes over her, through her.

"I need a real weapon," Jupiter mutters. Two long, sword thin beam extend from her gauntlets.

"Holy crap!" she yells. Emboldened, she takes an awkward fighting stance. "Oh, what the hell,' and she starts swinging wildly through the sims. Heads and arms roll, until she reaches Kiza. "How do I turn these off?" she cries when Kiza is forced to duck. At her thought, the beams vanish.

"It's gravitized," Kiza says in despair, pulling the collar.

"Let's see if this," and Jupiter grasps two sides of the collar her own grav enhanced gauntlets, and wrenches it apart, "will do it." the silver chain falls to floor in a glittering cascade. "Cool!" Stinger drops to the ground. then leaps to his feet, preparing to fight beside his daughter. Together, they aim and fire, aim and fire, sims dropping like flies.

Aknet slides forward and grasps the thin base holding the pillar of flame aloft. She wrenches it with a guttural scream, and the pillar cracks. The flame sputters, and dies. For a moment the room is dark, only the remaining sparks of gunshot lighting their faces, and the light beams streaming through the door.

Morkenin takes in a rapid assessment. Her sims are down. Her controls destroyed. She reaches behind her back with a vicious grimace, and pulls out her own weapon. A double headed scythe springs to life. She leaps like a tigress through the battle. Kiza and Stinger aim, but the sims pin them down against the wall. Morkenin reaches Jupiter, slicing, driving her back. Her weapon drives blue sparks from the armor, matching its energy, entitled blow against entitled shield. A single silver leaf severs, skittering away. Morkening grim smile overflows with triumph. Jupiter trips over a fallen sim, and Morkenin pulls her weapon for a finishing blow.

A long shadow suddenly falls across the mayhem within the chamber. Caine, wings wide, sweeps into the fray. He glides over the battle, and dives between Morkenin and Jupiter, forcing her to deal with him. He spins her momentum back with a growl. She cartwheels backward, and lands with a ready stance, rapidly advancing again, scythes whirling. Caine intercepts her with a handspring. The scythes spark off his shield, and Morkenin spins, aiming beneath to slice his legs. Caine leaps and uses his shield across Morkenin's back, landing on her other side, luring her away from Jupiter. Aknet surges forward, but Morkenin repels her with a slice to her wing. Cain takes the moment to rise and dives down, knocking the scythe askew. Morkenin recovers with a roll, slicing at Caine's feet. He flies out of reach, then, tucking his wings, begins a diving spin. As he reaches Morkenin, he knocks her with his shield at the same moment his other arms slides around her neck. Caine lands, Morkenin in his grasp. With a slap at the bracelet on her wrist, he disables her grav shield.

Caine twists her arms, Aknet a gun against her skull. Stinger and Kiza take aim, daring her to make another move.

Still, the proud Empress fights, with her words.

"Why won't you just die like a good terses? Because I know where this will end. I've lived through these uprisings. Have you? Have you survived endless, starving nights? Wandering the streets wondering if you will live to the next sunrise?"

Jupiter doesn't know what to answer. She doesn't know these things, only images she always had the privilege to ignore.

"I will burn your entire planet before I let you destroy millions of years of civilization!"

'A civilization that survives by stealing billions of lives!' Jupiter begins to say. The words die on her lips when, suddenly a shot fires from the shadows, disrupting Caine's hold, and Morkenin takes the opportunity to wrest herself from his grasp. Before they can respond, another volley has them ducking, and the Empress flees into the shadow.

"No!" Jupiter yells, but it is too late. With the failure of the restraining force field, the walls of the palace begin to crack and fall. She dodges as a slice of ceiling crashes to the ground. Caine streaks forward to reach her, but the icy cold of the planet, no longer held at bay, rushes in with a blasting wind.


	24. Chapter 24

Moving in a haze, Jupiter looks at bag near her head. An IV bag, she thinks. I'm safe, on board the cruiser. She hears voices. Stinger. Captain Tsing. Caine. We're safe, she thinks. Her eyes start to focus, then looks more closely at the emblem on the bag. A stylized wolf's head, silver on a field of black. Her brows wrinkle with bewilderment, and she stares at the symbol. A chill creeps up her spine.

Jupiter's eyes widen as realization hits her like ice water. She pulls back from the emblem, only to find that she is tied to it. A narrow tube filled with blue snakes from the bag to her own arm, dripping into her vein. Horror overwhelms her senses, and she rips the line from her vein. A thin tracery of blood courses down her arm like crimson tears. She hurtles backwards, into a pair of medical sims, knocking over a floating table of equipment which crashes to the floor.

To her left is a box, with a silver wolf's head. To her right, a hanging bottle, and a silver wolf's head. At her feet, a breather and on the attached bottle, a silver wolf's head. She recalls the spray the very first time she'd ever seen the medical miracles of Orous.

She can't find enough air. The floor slides sideways beneath her and she falls. She gapes at Captain Tsing, at Phylo, at Caine. They look back in confusion.

They knew. They all knew. They had always known. Everything, every miracle medicine, it was all the same. People. Murdered people.

Jupiter stares at them, a cold rage rising, shrouding her eyes with a freezing red haze. She had fought against this fate for her planet, and they had dripped that death into her veins.

"Your Majesty?" Caine asks in alarm, reaching towards her.

She scrambles to her feet, stumbling, and flees the medical bay.

She glances incoherently at the royal guards flanking her doorway. She hates everything they represent. She falls into her quarters, panting, eyes flooding with tears. She yells her ineffectual rage and attacks the chest of sheaves, throwing them smashing against the walls. Unappeased, she falls upon the bed and curls into a ball, body wracked with sobs.

Caine appears at her doorway, his face stricken. He watches, steps forward as if to run to her, comfort her, but stops. He realizes that he is part of what has hurt her, hurt her deeply. He stands, confused, and even more scared. His wings snap shut with a rustle.

"How could you?" Jupiter coughs out around her sobs. "You knew. You knew."

"I," he searches for anything to say. "That's just how it has always been. I didn't think."

"Go. Just go. Take me home." She couldn't bear another moment in this place, among these...people.

He turns to leave, his head lowered with shame, his heart hollow with a sorrow so heavy he could barely stand. He didn't know how to fight the damage between them. A low growl of pain escapes him.

"I can't change what happened." He faces away, speaking softly over his shoulder. "I will wait." She cannot look at him, but his words touch a memory that was a truth she once shared. "I will wait for you, forever if that's what you need. I," and he reaches for the words he has feared and desired to say for so long, "I would rather die than lose you. You are my life, Jupiter." He walks away.

Jupiter's heart swells.

"Caine," she whispers. She unfurls, and rushes to him, into his arms.

"Earth is my home too," he says softly into her ear, enfolding her in his wings. "I will live like they live. I'll take only what Earth has to offer." And for Caine, Jupiter is his Earth.

"Say it again," she whispers against his shoulder.

"Earth is my home, too."

"Yes, but my name."

"Jupiter," he breathes into her ear.

Jupiter reaches up and offers him her wet, desperate kiss, which he returns with equal need.


	25. Chapter 25

Jupiter opens the door to the Bolotnikov family home. The house is dark.

"Mom, no, not again!" Caine puts a hand on her shoulder, stalling her from rushing in. Together, they raise their guns. On high alert, they step cautiously past the pile of mail untouched near the stairs. Staying close to the wall, they move into the living room. Caine leans protectively over Jupiter when he sees the shadow. Their weapons train on the sargorn hulking just beyond the dining room table.

"What have you done to my family?" Jupiter cries out. The sargorn rustles its wings with consternation.

"Nothing, Your Majesty." Jupiter cocks her head, thinking the voice familiar.

"Aknet? I trusted you!" Aknet bows, trying to appear small and submissive. "I thought you were on our side."

"I come bearing a message."

"Spit it out. And fast."

"I heard the Empress' threat. We who were appointed will be your guard. None will touch Earth while we live."

"Oh." Jupiter's gun arm lowers. Caine looks at her and follows suit.

"We are yours to command, Your Majesty." And the holograph wavers out.

Earth would be safe. The idea rolls around her head. Jupiter stands tall, only now able to release the tension, the fears, that had taken root ever since first she ascended to the enormous responsibilities of the first estate. She releases a long held breath.

"Then where is your family?" Caine wonders, looking for clues. He sniffs, seeking anything unusual.

"Everything looks normal." Jupiter notices a large envelope propped in the middle of the table. She glances to each side before reaching out, and opening it.

 _My Darling Jupiter;_

 _I did not know how to reach you with news. I dare not say everything my heart holds because I do not know who might read this before you. I can say how much I love you. I am very proud of the woman you are. I hope you are well and safe. I must trust that your new friends take the best care of you._

 _Do not worry for us. An amazing thing. I won an all expense paid cruise around the world, with your help, of course, so that is what we do. You know I avoided accepting Cousin Klep's special assistance, but I no longer worry to be indebted by him. I will send you many postcards. Below is the number for the cruise line if you need to call. I look forward to hearing from you, when you are able._

 _I miss you more than I can say._

 _For now, please enjoy the house for yourself the next month._

 _I love you,_

 _Mom_

 _P.S. Vladie asks you do not touch his stuff, and not leave him a mess._

Jupiter smiles wide and a small laugh escapes her. She gazes up at Caine. She offers him a grateful, relieved embrace. She takes his hand and leads him up the stairs.

"I can share my father's dream."

Without words, he follows her to the roof, where her telescope sits in waiting. She trains it on the skies, towards the majestic sphere that is Jupiter.

****END****

***Author's note***

I would love to hear your feedback on the story, or even just a chapter that you liked or thought could be better. I am thinking of writing the next sequel, 'Jupiter Eclipsing' if I get really motivated. I also have links to my original works on my profile page.

***Updated 9/21/2018***


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